Where do I Belong?
by AzureBalmonk
Summary: Naruto leaves Konoha, heart broken, and returns one year later whilst being a member of a very powerful orginization. Does he still want to fulfill his childhood dreams? NaruSaku Chpt. 18 is finally up. Rated M
1. Hurt

Can I Forgive You 

A.N. This is my first fanfic, it's going to be a NaruSaku, I'm also going to have a couple of OC's, but their roles will be so small that you will barley be able to notice them. Also this fanfic is dedicated to Sharingank, Sharingank is my all time favorite NaruSaku writer (Petals is my favorite story by her), and that's what inspired me to write this NaruSaku, its probably going to be horrible, but I just hope that it will be a good read for you. So enjoy.

P.S. I do not own Naruto… yet lol.

Present day

The wind howled and the crisp breeze bit at the face of the tall figure trudging through the thin layer of snow in the woods. It had just started snowing in fire country; it always did at the end of October. The trees (the evergreens of course) still had their brilliant green color, and the thin layers of white snow on their branches, along with the snowflakes that fell down in the air made which it look beautiful in the night sky. As if white fireflies were dancing among the swirls of the wind.

Naruto was heading back towards Konoha slowly. He was walking through the forest that gave the hidden village its name. He was wearing a cloak similar to the cloaks worn by the Akatsuki. His was slightly different, it was shiny black, and it had orange lining at the end of the sleeves(where your hands come out), and at the top of the collar. There was also orange lining down along the zipper. On the back of the cloak was a dragon symbol (picture the mortal kombat symbol. I don't own mortal kombat either. The cloak will be explained later If I decide to continue the story) He had a hoodie, which spread shadows across his face, and hid his sun kissed, golden hair.

It had been almost 1 year since the events that caused him to leave Konoha.

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FLASH BACK TWO AND A HALF YEARS 

Naruto had been fifteen and a half years old. Everything was going great. He was getting stronger, and Sakura was finally starting get closer to him. He had not been counting on her to love him though, he knew those feelings were reserved for Sasuke. Sasuke… he would save Sasuke, he had the strength now, but he still could not defeat Orochimaru, or Itachi for that matter. He would find a way to do it, for Sakura-chan's sake.

"AWWWHH" yawned Naruto as he picked up his gear, he had just partaken in a rigorous sparring session with Lee. "You did great today Naruto-san, the flame of youth burns significantly within you", exclaimed the chunin in green spandex, enthusiastically. "Thanks fuzzy-brows, you're getting really strong yourself", answered Naruto while grinning that oh-so-famous grin of his, while rubbing the back of his neck. After exchanging their famous thumbs up the two shinobi parted ways.

"Naruto!" This caused Naruto to turn around instantly; he recognized that sweet voice all the time. "Sakura-chan", he greeted the pink-haired kunoichi with a warm smile. '_He always smiles when he sees me, I've treated him so horribly, but he's always forgiven me_, _I don't deserve it'_ thought Sakura. "Hey, whats up? ", she asked with a smile on her face.

"Nothing, just heading home to get changed, how about you?" replied Naruto gleefully.

"Well I was heading home as well, but I saw you so I decided to say hi", said Sakura.

"You know, after I get changed, I'm heading out to get some ramen. You could come if you'd like", asked Naruto.

"Sure, it'll be fun to hang out. I'll meet you there", answered Sakura, while smiling. _'Why are you smiling so much, its only Naruto here' _thought Sakura to herself.

"It's a date!" yelled Naruto excitedly.

BOOM! Naruto clutched the giant bruise on his head and whined "Sakura-chaann, easy with that strength-WHAAM! Naruto was caught with another one.

"You just don't know when to shut it do you!!?" yelled Sakura, while holding back giggles.

"I'm sorry", murmured Naruto while he lay on the ground with little x's in his eyes.

She knelt over his body and quickly pecked him on the lips as she ran home to change, while giggling.

That was where it started. Naruto and Sakura started seeing more and more of each other that year. They saw each other everyday, and were accustomed to the other's face. They knew each other intimately, yet their relationship was undefined. Neither of them could place it.

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One year later, on Naruto's 16th birthday…

"The party was great Naruto! Happy Birthday" said Tenten as her and Neji left, along with the rest of the Rookie Nine.

"Thanks for the gifts, and I'm really glad you all came", answered Naruto, '_you're all my very precious friends, thank you…' _Naruto thought as a single tear streamed down his face.

All of the sudden he felt two arms hug him from behind, and that soft voice and smell of strawberries he would always recognize. "Why are you crying Naruto, whispered Sakura into his hair". '_He smells like ramen, and I've really grown to like ramen' _"Are you sad?"

"I couldn't be happier", said Naruto as he turned around and realized how close he was to her. Their noses just barley grazing.

"I think I could give you a gift that would make you even _happier_", mumbled Sakura. She then proceeded with bringing her face up to Naruto's and kissing him on the lips for a second.

Naruto's eyes widened out of the shock he just felt. He knew she loved Sasuke, to think that she would feel the same for him would be an ignorant thought. '_They say ignorance is bliss, and who ever "they" happens to be, is a FUCKING genius, cause I'm taking all the bliss I can get'_ thought Naruto, as he quickly leaned back down and kissed Sakura hard on the mouth. She moaned at his aggression, and slid her tongue in between his lips and into his mouth. Their tongues danced all over their mouths fighting a war neither wanted to win or lose. After what seemed like years they broke apart.

"Naruto…" Sakura breathed, as she looked into his bright cerulean eyes.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I know you don't feel- he was cut off as Sakura kissed his mouth as though she was choking and the only air she could find came from Naruto. Sakura caught Naruto's tongue in her mouth, between her teeth and held it there, while licking it furiously. This made Naruto moan into Sakura's mouth.

They had been intimate with each other before, but today was different. Today they would take it to another level.

Sakura grabbed his hand and lead him towards his bed. Naruto sat down as Sakura sat on his lap. They then began to undress each other, while kissing passionatly. When they were naked, Sakura straddled Naruto, and held his wrists above his head as he was lying down. She proceeded to kiss him even more. Naruto got one of his hands free and grabbed Sakura's left breast (with his right hand). She had a perfect body. Her hips were nice and round, her bum was firm, and decently sized. But her breasts were unbelievable. Sakura's breasts were slightly bigger then Naruto's hand, and they were perfectly round, they fit in his hand as thought they wre two pieces of the same puzzle. Her skin was softer then silk, its perfection reminded him of ivory statues made as tributes to goddesses that were created by artists in western countries.

Finally Sakura adjusted herself over Naruto's fine toned body, which had no scars, but a tattoo over his firm, cut, abs. She knew what it was for. That day Yamato and her had to take care of Naruto after he had gone into his 4-tailed rampage would forever be in her memory. She wanted him to know that she was there for him now. She placed his stiff member in between her legs, and slowly took it in her body. It stung; _a lot_ it was her first time. Finally they picked up some rhythm, and after about 15 minutes both lovers were spent.

An hour later, as they just lay there, Naruto spoke with a hurt voice, "why did we do this, what about Sasuke… when I bring him back, what then".

When Sakura didn't reply, Naruto's heart cracked. He got up and went outside for some fresh air. He needed it. He came back home to find that Sakura had left. He just looked at the floor and sighed.

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6 months later.

Naruto walked in through the gates of Konoha with Sasuke on his back, unconscious. The two had teamed up together to fight Orochimaru, though they did not kill him, they did manage to kill Kabuto, and Orochimaru took that opportunity to flee. Just before Sasuke fainted he said, "I still want t vengeance on my brother, but my bond with you and Konoha is more important, I realize that… Naruto".

An hour later when Naruto went to check up on Sasuke he saw something that shattered his heart, Sakura was in the room embracing Sasuke as he kissed her forehead. Naruto felt warm tears come to his face, as he turned around and ran out of the hospital.

' _After_ e_verything I've done for her, she still loves him. Yes he's a good guy now, and he'll protect her and love her, but he still left her. I tried so hard. In the end it was nothing. I was just second best compared to him'_ thought Naruto. '_Well fuck this village. I don't want to be Hokage, not if I can't have her by my side.' _

He went home and slept, he was too tired from the grief. Later that night he packed up all of his things and walked to the same area that Sasuke did all those years ago when he decided he was going to leave for power.

As he came to the end of the village he heard a voice say "Yo".

He turned around to see Sasuke, with a concerned look on his face, "where are you going?" '_Yup Sasuke had changed, for the better, too bad it was too late'_

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AN: that's where I'll leave it now; give reviews, flames, whatever you please, I just hope people read it. If I get enough good reviews, I'll keep writing, till the next time I post, sayonara.


	2. Departure

AN: OK since I got some reviews, I've decided to update. Enjoy my fellow NaruSaku fans (but you got to wait a while until we see some of that again lol).

_(End of last chapter)_

_As Naruto came to the end of the village he heard a voice say "Yo"._

_He turned around to see Sasuke, with a concerned look on his face, "where are you going?" 'Yup Sasuke had changed, for the better, too bad it was too late'_

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"That's none of your concern Uchiha", answered Naruto in a tone so venomous that it caused Sasuke to flinch.

"_Naruto what's wrong, you never seemed so down before", replied Sasuke, with a growing concern for his friend, no his brother._

"_How would you know how I seemed before… you just came back after 3 years, you don't know anything about me anymore" hissed Naruto._

"_You're wrong, I don't need Sharingan, or the Mangekyou Sharingan to see the great person you are. You've worked so hard to bring me back to Sakura; you've truly saved the bond we had since we were young… Thank you Naruto", alleged Sasuke in the most sincere tone he had ever used in his life._

"_Take you're Mangekyou Sharingan and shove it!" growled Naruto. It was true; Sasuke had achieved the highest form of Sharingan during the face off with Orochimaru. It was when he killed Kabuto that it activated. It was not that Kabuto was Sasuke's closest friend or anything like that. It was due to the fact that during the years Sasuke had trained with Orochimaru, Kabuto had always been there to heal him, and give him supplements to increase his strength and growth. He would always tell Sasuke that they would kill Itachi eventually, and even though Sasuke hated him, those words did bring him comfort during those harsh times. Orochimaru was stone cold evil, and so was Kabuto, but Kabuto at least talked to him, and they formed a temporary bond during that time._

_So it came as no surprise that Sasuke felt grief when Naruto used his clones to hold Kabuto down, and allow him to strike the Chidori blow to end Kabuto's life. After having activated the Mangekyou, Orochimaru decided it was time to leave, it was a smart choice on his behalf. _

_Sasuke's thoughts returned quickly to Naruto as he heard his angry voice speak again, "Always getting better eh Sasuke, everyone has to love you. The famous Uchiha prodigy. Unlocking the Mangekyou. Leaving the rest of us in the dirt."_

"_What are you talking about!?" interjected Sasuke, "You've grown even stronger then me! When we fought against Orochimaru and Kabuto, you were flashing in and out of battle like a bolt of yellow lighting, I didn't even understand how that worked, it was a brilliant jutsu. Your subtle use of seals was incredible, like when you drew one on the tree behind Orochimaru as he was distracted by one of your shadow clones, I was very impressed. My Sharingan couldn't keep up at all! You've grown Naruto, why do you want to leave, don't tell me that power is the reason because I won't believe it"._

"_I want to leave because I hate the bond me, you and Sakura share! I have a new wish, which is greater then becoming Hokage, and that is to severe these bonds so that I never have to look at your faces again." Spat Naruto as though the words he had in his mouth contained chemical poisons, "I hate you Sasuke Uchiha, worse then you hate your brother, you took away my most precious thing AND IT WAS THE ONLY THING I HAD! One day I'll have my revenge on you, just as you seek your revenge on your brother". _

_These words crushed Sasuke 'what did I take from him, to get him to hate me like this. It must be the Kyuubi' Sasuke thought to himself. "Naruto don't let the Kyuubi take over your thoughts, I know you value your friends, we're brothers Naruto!"_

"_HAHAHAHA, the Kyuubi has nothing to do with this FOOL!" laughed Naruto sadistically. "I've hated you since the day you stabbed me in the heart with Chidori. YOU severed our bond right there and then. The only reason I kept coming after you was because I promised Sakura-ch… Sakura-baka that I'd bring you back." He sighed and look down at the ground "I've fulfilled my pledge, I owe nothing to neither of you anymore."_

_A tear streamed down Sasuke's face, "Naruto! Where are you going to go, tell me right no- "The hidden mist village, there I'll have a fresh start, and new dreams" said Naruto as he cut Sasuke off._

"_Naruto, that's so far away, no way you'll make it with the ANBU after you. I don't care how much stamina you have, the hidden mist village is at least 4 days away, and that's assuming you move at a constant, high velocity." stated Sasuke._

"_I'll make it there before sunrise." replied Naruto, "It's a promise of a life time, BELIEVE IT!" he said in an angry tone._

"_Naruto its 12 in the morning, sunrise is at 4, its impossible, there is no way you can do it" exclaimed Sasuke. "How do you plan on doing it, I won't even try to stop you ('I couldn't if I wanted to' thought Sasuke'). There's no way it can be done."_

"_I'll use this intellect of mine", answered Naruto, more calmly then before._

"_Even Shikamaru's intellect couldn't think up a way to get you to Iwikagure before 4 am in the morning, not even the SANDAIME could pull that off!" shouted Sasuke._

"_Hn. You'll see", replied Naruto, with a smirk. "Now get out of my sight!"_

_Sasuke then ran up to Naruto and grabbed both of his shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. He then said, "Naruto, I'll do whatever it takes for you to forgive me, I don't want you seeking revenge on me, I'll do anything, you're my brother"._

_Naruto's eyes softened. He then said, "Sasuke it's impossible to make me forgive you, just like its impossible for me to get to Iwikagure by 4 am."_

'_He's giving, up, I know its an impossible task, but Naruto never gave up this easy before, something has gotta be going on here' thought Sasuke to himself. Sasuke was then brought out of his thoughts._

"_But, I'll give you one shot to make me withdraw my revenge." muttered Naruto._

"_Anything" replied Sasuke._

"_It'll be hard, you probably couldn't do it", said Naruto right after._

"_Anything", said Sasuke once again._

"_Follow me", spoke Naruto._

_The two boys headed to the dock where they once exchanged glares and smiles when they were younger. Naruto picked up a rock and engraved, in calligraphy, 'I love you Sakura'._

_He then handed the rock to Sasuke. Upon reading the rock Sasuke understood so well why Naruto was in pain, but he wasn't going to give Sakura up, he too loved her._

"_If you can throw that rock all the way to Iwikagure, you'll be able to throw away my love for Sakura and I'll be able to forgive you" said Naruto._

"_That's IMPOSSIBLE!" exclaimed Sasuke._

"_Then you'll understand why it's impossible for me to forgive you, or to stay on Konoha, even though I still only have 3 hours to reach Iwikagure", said Naruto in a monotone voice as he skipped a rock across the smooth surface of the water, Sasuke still holding the engraved rock, while thinking. Then something hit him! He thought of a great idea._

"_I'm sorry Naruto it looks like you'll have to throw away your feelings for Sakura after all", smirked Sasuke. "I figured a way to do it, I'm going to open a portal to Iwikagure with my Mangekyou, and throw the rock through the portal. See it doesn't really work with human bodies cause the portal breaks them down into smaller particles about the size of this rock, but the rock will work cause its already small"._

_Naruto had shock written all over his face._

_Sasuke proceeded with pushing chakra into his eyes and opening a rift to create a portal (much like Kakashi did against Deidara). He then threw the rock in and it landed on Iwikagure's soil._

"_There I did it", replied a very proud Sasuke._

"_Very well, I will not seek my revenge on you Sasuke", replied Naruto as he grinned. _

"_You're happy that you forgave me?" asked Sasuke. _

"_No", replied Naruto, "I'm happy that you proved I could out-think Shikamaru"_

"_What?" then it hit Sasuke harder then a Fuuton Rasengan. Naruto had carved 'I love you Sakura' on that rock, in the calligraphy form of a SEAL! "I'll make it there before sunrise, it's a promise of a life time, BELIEVE IT!" Those words quickly replayed through Sasuke's mind. HE HAD PLANNED THIS FROM THE BEGINNING! He had used Sasuke to get that rock to IWIKAGURE! _

"_I really have to thank Shikamaru for buying me that Shogi board for my birthday, it really helps you think ahead of the game, and to consider that I've only been playing for 6 months!" chuckled Naruto. Then in the foulest Irony Naruto said those words that killed Sasuke, because they held significance to him as well. "Thank you…"_

_Sasuke quickly turned around and dove for Naruto, but it was useless, Naruto disintegrated through his arms in a yellow flash. The number one most unpredictable ninja all right. He did it with nothing less then pure genius, he did the impossible. He made it to Iwikagure with three hours to spare before sunrise. He was out of Konoha, and out of their lives._

"_NARRUUTTOO!!" screamed Sasuke as he fell on his knees while holding his head (and tearing his hair out) in frustration. Tears falling from his, and then from the sky as it started to rain._

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AN: well there is my second chapter; I tried to make it a little dramatic. Get Naruto to react a little. Naruto pulls of his little escape. I personally thought the idea was pretty cool with the Sharingan opening a portal to Iwikagure. I know it may not be really able to do that in the Manga, but it did have that trans-dimensional quality to it, so that's what inspired me. Next chapter I'll go over some of the things he learned while he was away, and the reason he wants to briefly return to Konoha. That is only if you READ & REVIEW. Sayonara.


	3. Azura

AN: Hello again (NOTE, PLEASE READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU CLOSELY WANT TO FOLLOW THIS FIC. IT IS GOING TO BE PRETTY BORING, BUT WILL HAVE INFO THAT EXPLAINS NARUTO'S CHANGES AS HE GETS BACK TO KONOHA AHD HOW HE GETS AS STRONG AS HE DOES). I'd just like to thank everyone for the reviews they've posted. It means a lot to me, and encourages me. For the concerned NaruSaku fans, I'm just asking you to be a little patient. I have to explain a couple more things in the following chapters, but it shouldn't take that long. Then I can get to some dramatic romance lol (maybe some fluff too, its all good lol). This chapter will show you some of the OC characters I created that helped Naruto grow in power (they are only secondary characters, so they won't steal the show). I won't go into too much detail about Iwikagure, only the OC characters he meets and what he does over his one-year absence from Konoha. Most of my OC characters are based off characters from other animes and mangas (they aren't completely the same, but they have noticeable similarities). P.S. I hope everyone likes the way I portray Sasuke, I know he's a prick in the Manga, but he is Naruto's best friend, and I want to make him a character that everyone begins to accept once again.

(End of last chapter)

_Sasuke quickly turned around and dove for Naruto, but it was useless, Naruto disintegrated through his arms in a yellow flash. The number one most unpredictable ninja all right. He did it with nothing less then pure genius, he did the impossible. He made it to Iwikagure with three hours to spare before sunrise. He was out of Konoha, and out of their lives._

"_NARRUUTTOO!!" screamed Sasuke as he fell on his knees while holding his head (and tearing his hair out) in frustration. Tears falling from his eyes, and then from the sky as it started to rain._

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_To say that Naruto grew stronger in Iwikagure would be the understatement of the century. Naruto had become a MUCH more powerful ninja. He had also joined an organization that would counteract Akatsuki. Akatsuki had gotten much more dangerous (in fact, Orochimaru re-joined Akatsuki after his confrontation with Sasuke and Naruto. This was due to the fact that Akatsuki also wanted to destroy Konoha. Akatsuki's original plan was to gain monopoly over all war, and Konoha was the strongest of the 5 great shinobi countries, therefore they would have be taken care of. When Orochimaru learned of this, he gladly returned to Akatsuki). That meant Naruto needed to surround himself with shinobi just as powerful as the Akatsuki. Shinobi that were just like him._

_One time, about three months after he arrived in Iwikagure, him and five friends he made traveled to the Akatsuki layer (Naruto had remembered it from the time Kakashi and him had fought Deidara). The layer was empty, except for a giant statue with a shit-load of eyes. Naruto knew what this statue held. He proceeded to destroy it with his five comrades. When the statue fell, the energy of the tailed demons was released once more._

_The instant that happened, Gaara felt Shukaku's presence again. He left his desk in Sunakagure. He had to follow that energy and retain it. This was not out of the need for power. Gaara had also changed under the influence of Naruto Uzumaki. He wanted to retain that power so that no other person (especially no child) would have to be responsible to contain that despicable being. He knew it meant giving away his newly acquired sleep, but no one would suffer the way he did. He would make sure of it. _

_Another interesting thing that happened while Gaara headed towards Shukaku (he could make it from Suna to the layer really quickly cause he could fly through the air on a cloud of sand at very high speeds). Was the Resurrection of Yugito. Her life energy was one with the Nibi's. So when the Nibi was released, her life energy found it's way back to her own body. She too had the same thought as Gaara. She was responsible for that tailed demon._

_When Naruto met Gaara and Yugito, he helped them seal the demons back into their bodies (note he learned many things that the Yondaime knew, one you could already tell is the Flying Thunder God technique, this and more will be explained in later chapters by Naruto himself). _

_After Naruto helped Gaara and Yugito, he met two more Jinchuurikis. Their names were Shujinko Miyabita, and Vasto Roronoah. _

_Shujinko had successfully sealed the Sanbi within himself, so that he could protect his family. The sanbi had been released in its original form when the Akatsuki statue was destroyed. It had attacked a small village; Shujinko quickly rose to the task of protecting the people he cared for. Shujinko was then outcast by other villagers because they feared what they didn't understand, so he too made his way to Iwikagure. Shujinko had spiky black hard that was a little "poofier" then Naruto's. His hair came down on either side of his face (like the Yondaime's). He had dark brown eyes, which were round (not as round as lee's, but still a little round). He was a funny, and happy guy. He got along very well with others. _

_Vasto had turquoise hair that was untidy, and spiky (like Ichigo's hair, Ichigo from Bleach). Vasto was the Jinchuuriki of the seven-tailed Ozaru (giant monkey from DB and DBZ, Akatsuki had not captured it yet). Ozaru was black, and created black chakra (Note: The tailed demons in my story will be the same size). Vasto was a sword genius. He was good at all forms of jutsu, but preferred to use blades. He had three. Two were normal, but one was a blade with no handle, just some little ridges one side (where the handle was supposed to be). It was also about one third of the size of the other two swords he carried (which were both katanas). When Naruto asked what it was for, Vasto smiled and put his teeth along the little ridges on the one side of the blade. "ithh thoo I can hol ith in ma mouf", Vasto tried to answer (notice a similarity lol). Vasto was pretty quite, but a nice guy nonetheless._

_So far Naruto knew four Jinchuurikis that held a tailed demon, besides himself. What Naruto would learn next would blow his mind away. The five friends he had blown the Akatsuki statue down with, were also Jinchuurikis, but they did not contained a tailed demon inside them. They contained the winged gods (Note: the term god doesn't imply that they are stronger or weaker, or not as evil. I just wanted to make a contrast between the entities. I changed **tailed, **with** winged,** so I wanted to exchange **demon** with something, I chose the term **god**; the demons and gods are the same size, and practically the same kind of being. You will see why they are called 'winged gods')._

_His five new friends were all bloodline users, which had been dejected from their families because their parents had married outside of the clan. Two of them were Uchihas, and one was a Hyuuga (to Naruto's huge surprise). The other two were from a clan called the Xhejshu (pronounced Jey-shu), which also had a dojutsu limit. All five of these teenagers (everyone one of the Jinchuurikis I've mentioned is Naruto's age in this fic, even Yugito) were orphans just as Naruto. Their parents dying on their way out of their respective hidden villages, while making the sacrifice for their children to live free of harm and discrimination in other villages. _

_First was Kai Daitsu. He was one of the two Uchihas (changed last name for security reasons, all of them have changed their last names). He had hair that was dark orange (almost red). It spiked out to the side (like super-saiyan trunks, for those who have seen DBZ, for those who haven't, just look it up on google, or try to imagine if you're not interested). He had lines under his eyes (his eyes were red, even when his Sharingan wasn't active), similar to those of Itachi's. His stare was cold from all of the loss he had experienced in his youth. Kai was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyonga. A fire bird with great powers and chakra (similar to Moltres from pokemon, p.s. I never really liked that anime, I didn't much watch it at all, I love the freaggin game though, so addictive lol). His second chakra was red, which looked almost like Naruto's, except Naruto's second chakra was orange._

_Next was Narya Kurosaki. She was one of the Xhejshu. The Xhejshu had an advanced limit called the Kutkogan. It had similar characteristics to the Sharingan. It slowed down movement so that the user could counter in taijutsu. It was similar to Sharingan in all aspects, except two. Instead of copying a move, it allowed the user to identify the move, and use the best possible move the user knew to counter it. For example, say one user is using the giant fireball technique Sasuke knows. The Kutkogan would identify it before it happens (during the hand seals, and orientation of the chakra in the opponent displaces), and get the user to use a water jutsu to counter it (assuming the Kutkogan user knew how to use a water jutsu). The second thing that makes the Kutkogan spectacular is its 'omniscient vision'. When a Kutkogan user kills someone, he learns the techniques and gains the experience the previous fighter had (except for bloodlines or special Justus). It is in this ability, that the Kutkogan users were feared and annihilated. How the original Kutkogan looked, no one knows, since the eyes that the Jinchuurikis had were altered (for the better) by the power of their deity. (Note: in this story, the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Kutkogan all have Mangekyou forms)._

_Narya Kurosaki had green hair, with beautiful green eyes. She seemed as though she was made of porcelain because her skin was so smooth. She was about 5' 6", which was shorter then all of the boys in her organization (Naruto had grown, and stands at 6' 2" about the same height as the other male Jinchuuriki's, give or take an inch). She was pretty well endowed. Naruto had noticed Vasto glance at her on more then one occasion. She was very sweet, she was nice like Hinata, but had a temper like Tsunade's. She was the Jinchuuriki of the Horaga. A bird that had many colorful feathers on its great wings (similar to Ho-oh from pokemon). Her second chakra's color was a bright, yet deep green._

_After her came Kiara, Kiara was half Uchiha and half Hyuuga. Her eyes were like Byakugan eyes, except they were light blue, and had the outline of a pupil in the middle. You would think that a combination of these two great families would be joyous occasion. If you did think so, you would be wrong. The two families tried to kill this child, and her parents sent her away to the village hidden in the steel. That village was attacked by three winged gods and completely destroyed, but not before those three winged gods were sealed into three children. Kiara was fated with the Tesoga, a giant bird of ice (similar to Articuno from pokemon). Kiara was beautiful; she had long blue hair, and unbelievable ivory skin, her body had amazing figure (imagine the princess from the first Naruto movie, as a teenager, which probably isn't hard cause she was like twenty in that movie). Her second charkra's color was a dark indigo blue, which you could clearly contrast from the normal, light-blue colored chakra._

_Next was Raiden Madara (his parents changed their last name in honor of the great Madara Uchiha). He was the second Uchiha Jinchuuriki. His family moved to the village hidden in the steel when he was young. They died in the attack of the three winged gods. __He was the container of Zaiga, a great bird of thunder and lightning (similar Zapdos from pokemon). Raiden had blond spikey hair that shot up (similar to Vegeta's in DBZ, but Raiden had bangs so his forehead didn't stick out). At the front his hair was blond, but in the back there were black strands (his spiky hair resembles Zapdos's wings). His eyes were black and always looked calm and collected, but when he activated his Sharingan, the iris was yellow instead of red. __The color of his second chakra was gold._

_Finally there was Vegito (I'm not trying to copy DBZ, it's just really close to my name, only a couple of letters off, and the character is really cool lol). He had no last name. He was the container of the third of the winged gods to strike the village hidden in the steel. He had spiky black hair. It spiked to the side, a little like Kakashi's hair, but it wasn't as long. It managed to give off a red tint (you know when light reflects off a character's hair, there is a color tint, for Sasuke its blue as an example, well for Vegito it's red). His eyes were black. He had lines under his eyes like Itachi, but only about half as long. When he activated his Kutkogan (he is the other Xhejshu member) his eyes have little nike-like check marks around his pupil, and his eyes become dark cobalt/gray. They would shine silver sometimes. He was the son of the Yondaime Dakukage (I tried to translate **dark shadow** in Japanese, I don't know how accurate it is). The Yondaime Dakukage was as revered as the Yondaime Hokage, and Sandaime Kazekage. He managed to seal three winged gods during one battle, and then died right after. He sealed the Oneiga into Vegito. Oneiga was the great bird of time (imagine Lugia from pokemon), it controlled so much power that only his son could ever hope to contain it. His second chakra was rainbow colored, but all the colors clashed so you just saw silvery-white chakra, with hints of color once in a while._

_After Zaiga, Tesoga, and Oneiga were locked away in Raiden, Kiara, and Vegito, the village hidden in steel fell; however, thanks to the sacrifice of the Yondaime Dakukage, the villagers escaped and went to live in Iwikagure. Kai, and Narya moved there a while after. Naturally after meeting them, and realizing that they went through the same pain as him, Naruto became good friends with these people._

_Akatsuki was still on the move though. They still wanted to capture all the Jinchuurikis. This was how the organization known as 'Azura' was created. It was created so that the Jinchuurikis could stick together and defend themselves against Akatsuki. Each member brought something different to the team._

_Raiden taught Gaara, Miyabita, and Vasto how to unlock their second chakras, making them much stronger. _

_Yugito taught them how to suppress and completely control their inner demon (Gaara thanked her to death because he could finally sleep again, so did Naruto, because he wouldn't have to talk to Kyuubi as much anymore)._

_Shujinko taught everyone about the areas outside of the major villages, since he lived in small villages. He knew the wilderness intimately. _

_Narya taught everyone how to unlock his or her demon dojutsu. Naruto and the rest of the gang (like Gaara, Shujinko, Vast and Yugito) now had special eyes to help them fight (though they weren't as developed right away, they get stronger after a while). _

_Kiara taught them how to mix elements, since her inner entity was an ice type; she was a natural at mixing elements (ice is water and wind). _

_Kai taught them how to kill their emotion when it was necessary, and how to bring them back when fighting ceased (however, thanks to Sakura, Naruto had already lost a lot of emotions). _

_Vasto taught everyone how to use weapons, and to perfect their taijutsu (though Naruto thought Lee was a better hand-to-hand fighter, when it came to swords, no one could hold a light to Vasto. He even used Justu's with his sword, and helped Naruto develop a VERRRY POWERFUL ONE, with a sword of course AN: you'll get to see it later if you still read this story). _

_Naruto brought something **VERY** valuable to the team. That was his kage-bunshin training. All of the Azura had HUGE second chakra sources, so they could all use this form of training. These made all of the members get VERY POWERFUL (powerful enough to challenge Akatsuki one on one)._

_Vegito taught everyone how to release the maximum potential of his or her inner deity. This way the winged gods, and tailed demons stood on equal ground with one another. Everyone in the group was on the same level as everyone else, and their teamwork was unbelievable._

_Gaara brought money to the team. He was Kazekgae, but decided to leave it to Kankuro. He was going to join Azura to rid the world of Akatsuki. He brought money and hooked everyone up with his or her gear. He got the cloaks (like the one Naruto wore at the beginning of the first chapter). Each cloak had different color lining, depending on the member's second chakra color. Naruto had orange, Raiden had gold, Yugito had purple, Shujinko had turquoise, Narya had green, Gaara had brownish-bronze, Kiara had indigo, Kai had red, Vasto had black (you could barley see his lining), and finally Vegito had silver. _

_After one year of training with 1000 clones, with each team member, Azura was EXTREMELY POWERFUL. Everyone would go into battle with each other at the end of the day with all of their clones (in an isolated area). That meant 10,000 participants. So one year, times 1000 clones, plus the climactic battle at the end of everyday, and when the clones were discharged Naruto gained all of that experience (you do the math to see how much stronger Naruto had grown)._

_Finally Naruto had to take care of one more thing. He had to go to Konoha and remove himself from their history entirely. He had to get rid of his past. He had to get rid of everything about it. His bonds, his dreams, his love for a certain someone who had broken his heart. So he told Azura he would be gone for two months, long enough for him to set everything straight in Konoha. He couldn't stay there; he had new precious people to protect now._

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Present.

So this is where Naruto was now, walking back to Konoha in his Azura cloak. He didn't know why he decided to walk 'maybe its some sentimental reason' he thought. Then something clicked in his mind, '_I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this to Tsunade…_" He sighed at the thought as he arrived at the giant gates of Konoha.

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AN: IM SO SORRY this chapter was terrible, but I felt it necessary so that everyone could know what Naruto was up to. I also wanted to explain how he gets stronger in the latter chapters. See I'm not a fan of those fics where Naruto comes back as a god out of the blue. I did this so people can understand how he gets this powerful, and not just be like 'pfft he could never get that strong in one year'. It's also necessary so that you see he has made precious friends somewhere else and it justifies his reasons for not wanting to go back to Konoha to be Hokage there. Don't worry about a story over-run with OC characters. Most of them you will not hear about again. I know some people (such as myself do not like it when a story is over run by OCness it just ruins it sometimes. So you won't see most of these characters again, maybe one or two in the latter chapters but that's it I PROMISE). Please don't let this one bad chapter change your mind about the story, I'll try hard to make good for NaruSaku fans (cause I am one myself). There will be some emotions next chapter. Its going to be Sakura thinking about Naruto and Sasuke, and being conflicted. Sakura's betrayal of Naruto (when she was with Sasuke in the first chapter) will be justified in the next chapter. I'm not going to Sakura bash, cause I like her as a character.


	4. Symbol

AN: OK everyone, thanks for the reviews for last chapter, they were a lot then I had ever hoped for. This chapter is going to be Naruto back Konoha. You'll get to see how Azura has changed him. He will also talk to Tsunade in this chapter. If I don't get some Naruto and Sakura confrontation in this chapter I'll defiantly have it by the next. Enjoy.

(End of last chapter)

_Finally Naruto had to take care of one more thing. He had to go to Konoha and remove himself from their history entirely. He had to get rid of his past. He had to get rid of everything about it. His bonds, his dreams, his love for a certain someone who had broken his heart. So he told Azura he would be gone for two months, long enough for him to set everything straight in Konoha. He couldn't stay there; he had new precious people to protect now._

_Present._

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So this is where Naruto was now, walking back to Konoha in his Azura cloak. He didn't know why he decided to walk 'maybe its some sentimental reason' he thought. Then something clicked in his mind 'I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this to Tsunade…' He sighed at the thought as he arrived at the giant gates of Konoha.

Naruto tilted his head up to stare at the gates of Konoha, which stood tall and proud as the soft snowflakes fell on Naruto's face. He had no trouble getting through these gates for he knew there were all sorts of seals on the other side. In a flash of light Naruto was in Konoha. He headed slowly to Tsunade's office.

Even though it was about two thirty in the morning, and the streets were dead silent, he knew Tsunade would be in her office probably preparing for tomorrow. It was a Thursday after all, and on Thursdays Tsunade would do all the work she could so that she could leave as early as possible on Friday. _'Smart women, do all the work one day so you could be lazy the next'_, chuckled Naruto as he thought to himself.

After just passing the Yamanaka flower shop Naruto heard some footsteps behind him.

"Its about time I found some ANBU, I've been in this village a whole 10 minutes without any disturbance. You guys sure know how show up late. The security here sucks" said Naruto in an amused tone.

Normally two ANBU jounins would be quick to act upon an intruder; however this was not a normal occasion. The two jounins looked at each other in horror.

"H-he's one of t-them", muttered the first jounin, "he wears the symbol".

"S-should we call for backup?" panicked the second jounin.

"You don't have enough time to do that. I'm standing 200 meters away, and you have to move your hand all the way from your hip to your vest pocket to press the distress beacon", spoke Naruto in a somewhat robotic tone, as though he was stating fact. "I'll have more then enough time to kill both of you 5 times over by then".

"I-its true, he wears the Azura symbol, that dragon on his back" spoke the first jounin quietly. "That means he has to be at least as powerful as the Akatsuki".

Azura had made their presence known to the shinobi world. They, in only their first year of action, had done many things. They separated into two man teams and carried out tasks normally deemed impossible. Naruto had been paired with Gaara. One mission they had completed was the assassination of the (extremely highly guarded) Daimyo in Thunder country. After that, their names had become famous, but not their identities.

"Fuck it, I'm calling backu-" the jounin paused; he couldn't find his distress beacon. He was utterly shocked.

Naruto whistled as he waved the two beacons in front of his face, "These are pretty nice, how much they worth now?"

"HOW THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT!?" screamed one of the jounins in utter fear, "YOU DIDN'T EVEN MOVE!"

"Correction, it wasn't me that didn't move, it was you that didn't see", replied a carefree, Naruto, not even looking back at the two jounins, as he was still examining the beacons.

All of the sudden Naruto was behind the two jounins, and he quickly struck a pressure point on both. They fell limp and were unconscious. Naruto didn't know why he carried them to the hospital and left them inside, nowadays he would've left them to die, '_maybe its some sentimental reason_' he thought to himself for the second time that night.

The hospital was attached to the Hokage's office, so as soon as Naruto left the two jounin he walked up the stairs to Tsunade's office. He quickly let himself in. See Tsunade always left her door open; there were not too many people bold enough to let themselves into the Hokage's room without announcing their presence. Naruto, however, _was_ bold enough.

"Who the hell do you think you are?! You dare come in here at _three_ in the morning to bother me", said Tsunade, as the back of her chair faced Naruto. She then turned around and with anger said, "You might've gotten away with assassinating the Thunder Daimyo, but you shouldn't have come here you Azura scum!"

"Relax, if I wanted you dead, you'd already **be** dead", replied Naruto as he lowered his hoodie revealing his golden hair and his dark blue eyes. "Its been a while Tsunade-sama"

"Naruto…" whispered Tsunade while tears filled her eyes, "why…?"

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Sakura had been working late that night as well. See Sakura wasn't your average medical ninja. She was an ANBU medical ninja. She fought on the field of battle just as much as she healed on the field of battle. She had become powerful all right; powerful enough to be Sasuke's sparring partner, and even win about 40 of the time, including the occasions where Sasuke had his Sharingan active. She had even become more beautiful, men all over Konoha would give her stares, but not when she was with Sasuke, they still valued their lives too much to do that.

So since Sakura didn't spend that much time at the hospital, she took it upon herself tonight to get as much done for Konoha's hospital as possible. After she had healed two jounins she had found waiting in the lobby unconscious she heard Tsunade yell, _"You might've gotten away with assassinating the Thunder Daimyo, but you shouldn't have come here you Azura scum!"_ Sakura quickly grew worried. She had heard of the Azura, no even worse, she had _encountered a pair_ of them before.

Her, Sasuke, and Neji had been sent on a S-class mission with Kakashi. This mission was to protect a princess from the village hidden in the rocks (this mission was done to promote peace between Konoha and Oto). When traveling they ran into two of these Azura members. One of them had a cloak with turquoise lining, and the other had red lining. The Azura did not only bypass their defenses incredibly, but took the girl without scratching a hair on her head and returning her half an hour later (to the relief of the Konoha shinobi). The girl later told the Konoha ninjas that two Azura ninjas sought some information about Oto. When she explained that she knew nothing, they returned her to the Konoha ninjas.

Sakura had an idea what these ninjas were capable of seeing as Kakashi and Sasuke's Sharingans were both countered while they took the girl. Even Sakura's super strength was held at bay. Neji attempted to use gentle fist on one of the ninjas, but he dodged all 128 of his strikes while standing less then an inch away from Neji's face. To say that Neji felt stupid would be quite the understatement.

Sakura hurried to Tsunade's office, and just before she was going to smash through the door she heard Tsunade cry words that shook her heart, "Naruto… why…?"

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Sakura couldn't believe it. She pressed her ear against the door to listen.

"Why did you leave Konoha?" Tsunade continued. "Why did you join Azura?"

"I had nothing here, nothing important to stay for", muttered Naruto. At these words Sakura's heart cracked while she was behind the door. '_It hurts so much' _she thought to herself.

"I wanted to be acknowledged, I wanted to be strong… Its true, I was gaining both acknowledgement and strength, but I lost something that I valued much more then that!" replied Naruto. "I wanted my name to be immortal, I wanted people to remember me long after I died as the greatest. I couldn't accomplish that here. How am I supposed to gain immortality in the memory of villagers that hate me, when the people closest to me forgot all about me as soon as Sasuke came back?"

"We didn't forget about you Naruto!" Tsunade yelled, "We gave your praises, you learned your father's techniques so well, and you were growing strong like him"

"Only you and Jiraiya", answered Naruto with some anger in his voice. "Kakashi was too busy lecturing his favorite Uchiha, and Haruno… she…" he sighed, "I had nothing to gain here anymore".

'_Haruno, why doesn't he use my first name'_, Sakura contemplated as she continued listening from behind the door, '_Haruno sounds as if him and me are acquaintances, nothing more… I hate the way it sounds when he says it'_.

"Naruto", said Tsunade "Kakashi and Sakura were just checking up on Sasuke, he was missing for three years. They had the right to be worried".

"Yeah, just checking up alright" muttered Naruto to himself as the pictures of Sasuke kissing Sakura on the forehead replayed in his mind over and over again.

"What did you gain in Azura that you could not have had here anyways?" questioned Tsunade.

"Its quite simple" replied Naruto. "In Azura I met people like me, who shared my fate. People who understood my pain" Tsunade was beginning to understand. She looked up as she heard Naruto continue.

"In Azura I became more then a man, more then flesh and bones. A man can be hurt, killed, destroyed. I became an idea, a symbol like the one on my cloak. Symbols can never be destroyed, ideas are eternal. I influenced people on a large scale. I became _acknowledged. here I learned to fight against 5 opponents and win. Azura taught me to send 500 opponents running without having to lift my finger._" stated Naruto.

"And how did you _gain_ this acknowledgment… Naruto?!" questioned Tsunade, more aggressively, already knowing the answer.

"Through **fear**" beamed Naruto, "I did what was necessary".

"YOU KILLED A DAIMYO, YOU'RE AN S-RANKED CRIMINAL!" shrieked Tsunade.

"THE DAIMYO OF THE THUNDER VILLAGE WAS A TYRANT, HE SOLD HIS VILALGERS AS SLAVES AND TOOK THEIR LAND AFTERWARDS!" yelled Naruto back to Tsunade.

"You were responsible for the death of 1000 of his soldiers, who had families, who had CHILDREN Naruto!" said Tsunade, with tears in her eyes.

"I did what was necessary. Now those exact children will not suffer fates worse then those of their fathers!" answered Naruto, feeling guilt put weight on his mind. '_I have to remember what Kai-san taught me, emotions do not have the right to interfere with what is best for the world'_ thought Naruto.

He then confidently continued "and it is because of those very same actions that Iwikagure is, now, a prospering nation. We changed it; Azura made it a better place. Once it was a village that forced its students to kill each other in their chuunin tests. Once criminals like those that lived in Kirikagure ran the country because of fear. Now the criminals fear us, FEAR **ME**!" he took a breath, "I have no regrets about what I have done".

Tsunade sighed, "Naruto, it won't be easy for me to allow to live in Konoha once more… there are a lot of things that have to be dealt with, even though you're identity is a secret only I, and the rest of Azura knows"

"You don't have to worry about that Tsunade, I decided a long time ago that I would not stay in Konoha any longer" replied Naruto with the fakest smile he had ever displayed.

"W-when was this?!", asked a shocked, and sorrowful Tsunade.

"I made this choice the day that Sakura-ch… Haruno, chose Uchiha over me in the hospital", said Naruto as he looked to the ground.

This caused Sakura to gasp (quietly enough so that neither Naruto, nor Tsunade could hear her). '_Naruto! You saw that! That wasn't what it seemed like at all. You left… because of me. Naruto you hurt me so much when you left, I loved you, not Sasuke… I still… love you…' _Said Sakura in her mind as tears dropped from her face, '_how am I going to brake this to Sasuke… I don't even know how Naruto feels about me anymore. What if he hates me? He won't even use my first name anymore… it doesn't matter; he's done so much for me. I have to try. I miss the smell of ramen in his hair, and those beautiful blue eyes. I miss the way he feels against my skin. No wonder I can't bring myself to kiss Sasuke. Naruto…I'm so sorry'._

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_Flash back to the day Naruto brought Sasuke back._

_Sakura was in the hospital. She had just heard the news. Sasuke was back! She had to go visit him. After all, he was her teammate still. Something was different though. She didn't feel the warmth in her heart that she used to feel. She was happy he was back and all, but she didn't yearn for him the way she used to. _

_The night of Naruto's 16th birthday was the night she stopped dreaming about Sasuke, and started dreaming about Naruto._

_Pushing these thoughts aside, she still had to visit him. To make sure he was ok._

_She got to his room. He was sitting up, looking out the window._

"_Hey big guy" she said, "how you holding up?"_

"_S-Sakura-hime" replied Sasuke, "Its great to see you. I've missed you very much. I've been an idiot; I've thrown away something very important. One of the thoughts that kept me going was that you were here waiting. I knew if from the look in your eyes the day I left. You'd wait. I'm so grateful. I'll make it up to you, I swear!"_

"_S-Sasuke, I-" she was interrupted as Sasuke jumped out of bed and laced his hands around her. "Sakura, with out you, I don't know what I'd do!" _

_She felt a tear on her cheek as they ran down Sasuke's eyes. 'I've always wanted this, but why does his touch make me want to scream, why do I want to rip myself out of his arms' she thought to herself, 'I can't though, he needs me, if I leave him, he might hurt himself, or run away. I'll let him off easy, little by little. I'll have to explain it to Naruto"_

_As Sasuke went to kiss Sakura's mouth, the pink haired kunoichi lowered her head so that he could only kiss her forehead. Kisses to her mouth were only reserved for a knuckle-headed blond boy she knew._

_Sasuke continued to kiss her forehead, and Sakura let him, she had to, for his own sake. That's when she heard someone running away, she couldn't turn her head in time to see who it was._

_After Naruto had left that night, Sakura was so full of grief that she allowed Sasuke to comfort her. After two months of constant comfort she gave Sasuke a chance to heal the pain in her heart. It didn't work, Sasuke could never replace Naruto, and he couldn't even come close. Yeah he was a nice guy, and he had emotions now, but Naruto made her feel like a goddess. He made her laugh, and let her hit him, and let her heal him. She had given Naruto her first kiss and her virginity. Still she let Sasuke try, because she definitely needed more comfort. _

_Sasuke could pick up the hint after a while, they had been going out for 6 MONTHS and still she hadn't kissed Sasuke on the mouth ONCE. She still let him hold her hand in public, actually in public they seemed like the perfect pair, but in private Sasuke knew she loved Naruto. He wouldn't give though, he loved Sakura dearly, and he would try and try and try._

_And that had been the situation now. Sakura's greatest dream and Sasuke's biggest nightmare (in terms of his relationship) had occurred. Naruto Uzumaki had returned. _

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Presently in Tsunade's office.

"So if you planned to leave from the beginning, why did you come back here Naruto?" asked Tsunade trying not gasp through her tears, though that was proving difficult.

"I came here to leave it all behind", answered Naruto in a strong voice, befitting of a Kage level ninja, "I want you to erase Naruto Uzumaki from all records and history of Konohakagure. This isn't where I belong…"

'_NO I CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN' thought Sakura_ as she gasped_ 'I'LL SET THINGS RIGHT, I OWE IT TO YOU… I love you'._

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AN: CLIFFHANGER lol, well anyways, I think that was a little better then that terrible last chapter. I used the batman complex in this chapter lol, make yourself a symbol, strike fear into your enemies. I hope the last chapter served its purpose in clarifying, and setting some things up in this chapter. I tried to make Sakura a strong character in this, she is a fighter and a med nin, hope you like that take on her. To all the NaruSaku fans, though they didn't confront each other you can see the feelings, I hope that leaves you satisfied for now. Till next time sayonara.


	5. Revealed

AN: well here is Chapter 5. I hope it pleases everyone. Once again thanks for all the reviews, I appreciate them a lot. Also thank you for suggestions that you have given some are quite good. I'm sorry if these next chapters aren't as good, cause I am really busy nowadays, but I'll try my hardest to keep you all satisfied. Now on with the story!

(End of last chapter)

_Presently in Tsunade's office._

"_So if you planned to leave from the beginning, why did you come back here Naruto?" asked Tsunade trying not gasp through her tears, though that was proving difficult._

"_I came here to leave it all behind", answered Naruto in a strong voice, befitting of a Kage level ninja, "I want you to erase Naruto Uzumaki from all records and history of Konohakagure. This isn't where I belong…"_

'_NO I CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN' thought Sakura as she gasped 'I'LL SET THINGS RIGHT, I OWE IT TO YOU… I love you'._

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"N-Naruto" Tsunade exclaimed, "please reconsider your decision. Please Naruto, there are so many people in this village who care about you. You are a pillar of strength in the eyes of those who are weak".

"Tsunade-sama, I have to leave. You don't understand that this isn't my home anymore." sighed Naruto as he continued to explain, "I have new precious people, a new home, the only reason I came here was so you could clear my history. That way there won't be any regrets"

"Naruto you have to stay, please, you can do so many great things for this village" continued Tsunade.

"Even if I wanted to stay, I made an obligation to Azura, there is no going back now", said Naruto. "Anyways, I can't continue in a village where people hate me. In Iwikagure people cheer out for the Azura, I even have fan-girls for the first time in my life"

'_Fan-girls, could he have already moved on? Could he have already forgotten about me? Please Naruto, listen to Tsunade' _thought Sakura from behind the door as Naruto continued to speak.

"So can you see why I want to go back to Iwikagure Tsunade? There I have already gained acknowledgment, when I walk through the streets, people smile, and little kids pretend to be us. I feel complete in Iwikagure… well not complete. There is still something that I want, but its something I can never have" Naruto whispered those last words too quietly for Tsunade to hear. '_I have to remove these thoughts of Sakura from my mind. I have to leave this behind'_. Thought Naruto as he finished speaking.

Tsunade quickly argued "Naruto, you can accomplish that here as wel-"

"Tsunade-sama, just destroy my records" said Naruto as he interrupted Tsunade. "I just want to disappear. I don't want these villagers to ever remember I existed. I want future generations to be content with the idea that my father killed the Kyuubi. Please Tsunade-sama just grant me this wish. It is the only thing that I have ever requested of the village that I have given everything for. Let me be free"

Tsunade was crying once again, "N-Naruto, I'll do it for you. It will however take time. All matters regarding the files and records of Konoha's history have to be discussed with everyone in the council. It could take about a month and a half to completely remove you from Konoha" she paused to breathe "and even though we may be destroying your files, that doesn't mean you will be forgotten. Kakashi, Sasuke and ESPECIALLY Sakura will never forg-"

"Haruno forgot about me the day Uchiha came back" Naruto cut in, "lets not talk about these trivial things now. Just assure me that by the end of two months Naruto Uzumaki will no longer exist in Konoha's history".

"Naruto, I just have one question," asked Tsunade while sniffling.

"Hn", replied Naruto simply

"Why go through all this trouble, why not just change your identity into a new one, instead of erasing all the information on your current identity?" inquired Tsunade.

"Its sentimental to me. Though I want to change my persona, I will always have my name. I want my name to be remembered, plus…" Then a tear slithered down Naruto's cheek "besides his jutsu, it's the only part of himself that my father has left behind for me. Its the only thing I have to connect myself with him" At this, Naruto remembered the day he found out about his father.

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_Flash back… the day the Sandaime died._

_As Naruto left the funeral, his heart was cracking all over. The Sandaime had been Naruto's hero. Sure everyone praised the Yondaime, but Naruto had never known him, or met him for that matter. The Sandaime, however, Naruto knew very closely. He was the only one, besides Iruka that had treated him well when he was younger._

_In Naruto's eyes the Sandaime had been the greatest. Who, in the history of the Kages, would ever be able to save his village in a three on one battle against three other Kage level ninjas, while being at the age of 69?! There was no doubt. In the final battle of his life, that old fart had shown strength that assured his name was put on the list of immortals._

_As Naruto got home, he found a letter (in an envelope) when he walked in the door. It had 'Jiraiya' labeled on it. Naruto proceeded to open the envelope. What he read completely devastated his mind._

"_Hey Naruto, Sandaime wanted me to give you this letter should he ever pass away before he could explain your history to you himself. Well it's happened, and that old pervert did pass away, may his strong soul find peace one day. Anyways this envelope contains two letters. One from the Sandaime, and one from the Yondaime"_

'_The Yondaime, I wonder what he has to say to me, I was only one day old the day I was used to cage the Kyuubi' Thought Naruto. He continued to read the letters._

_The first one was the Sandaime's_

"_Hey there Naruto. If you're reading this letter then I've passed away, hopefully I've also managed to protect my important people one final time, which includes you as well Naruto. I'm sorry for the way the villagers have treated you. They couldn't look past the fact that you have Kyuubi sealed within you. Please Naruto, try not to hate them, they are really good people at heart. Remember that they lost loved ones to that beast. It is up to you to show them that you are not the Kyuubi. You are strong enough to contain it Naruto, you are strong enough to change their hearts. Show them the light that burns within you. You can achieve your dreams Naruto; you are strong enough to do it. You have shown more strength in the first 5 years of your life, then the rest of the Hokages put together. You have taken the insults and glares and shaken them off like nothing. Just remember that this old fart apologizes one last time, and he wants to let you know that he is very proud of you. You have always been and will always be an inspiration to me._

_With great love, and greater respect_

_-the Sandaime Hokage"_

_Naruto was crying furiously "Thank you, thank you so much Sarutobi-dono". He then proceeded to the next letter. This letter had many tearstains on it._

"_Hey there my little Naruto. Look at you, so small, crying. I'm crying too my son. I'll never be able to see you again. Fate is a cruel thing Naruto, it is angry with us. It is angry with us because you are stronger then it. See fate is trying to destroy our beloved home, but you and me together, we won't let it. You are going to overcome fate, and become a hero. Though the villagers might not think so, you will know so in your own heart, and so will I. I love you so much Naruto, I love you so much it hurts to write these words on this paper. I will miss your beautiful little eyes, and the way you hold my thumb in your little hand. Naruto, you give me strength that I have never dreamed of. With the thought of you in my mind, I fear nothing. Not even the Kyuubi will be able to overcome me, because I have Naruto Uzumaki on my side. My son, grow strong and find people whom you cherish. Protect these people. Never let this demon hold you back. Use it to become stronger, push yourself. I wish I could grow old with your mother, and watch you become the strong man you are destined to be. I wish I could meet my grandson some day and hold him in my lap as I tell him of your days as a little boy. I wish this wasn't how things turned out be Naruto, but some things can't be helped. In the scroll that comes with this letter there are some jutsu that I have developed. This is the only thing I can give you, while you have given me so much. Naruto, please forgive me for sealing this Kyuubi in you, I'm doing it so that other fathers do not have to write this same letter to their little boys. Remember that your father always loves you, and will always be proud of you no matter what._

_With all the love in the world,_

_-Arashi Uzumaki, the Yondaime Hokage"_

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Back In Tsunade's Office

Naruto put his hand on his heart as the single tear fell off his face. Tsunade quickly rushed forward and embraced Naruto in a strong hug. "I'll do it for you Naruto, give me two months and I'll do it" Tsunade sobbed as she clenched the young blond in her arms.

"Tsunade-sama, where will I stay for these two months while you're getting rid of my information?" asked Naruto as Tsunade held him.

"Your old apartment has been renovated and is still vacant because I requested it. You can stay there," replied Tsunade as she let him go.

"Thank you. I'm going to get some sleep; it's been a long night. I'll see you later Tsunade-sama," said Naruto quietly. Then in a puff of smoke Naruto was gone.

"You can come in now Sakura," said Tsunade.

Sakura was shocked '_she knew I was here? What if Naruto-'_ her thoughts were cut off as Tsunade said "don't worry, Naruto was too concerned with other matters to notice your presence".

"Tsunade-same you CAN'T let Naruto go, you just CAN'T!" yelled Sakura as she rushed in through the door.

"That's Naruto's decision. You should go talk to him. There is a lot of bad blood between you two right now," commented Tsunade.

"I'm going to go to his apartment right now and fix this Tsunade-sama" said Sakura as she too disappeared in a poof of smoke.

'_Pheww, what a night'_ was all Tsunade could think as she took the bottle cap off of the sake bottle in her desk.

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30 minutes later in Naruto's apartment.

Naruto had just gotten out of the shower. He was wearing a loose, white, undershirt (otherwise known as a wife beater) and some black shorts that just came down below his knees. The cotton felt nice on his skin after he came out of the steaming water in his bathroom. The slightly cooler temperatures were welcomed as well, the slight breeze made him feel relaxed and refreshed. He liked the way the apartment was altered. There were two new rooms added. The walls were painted in a beautiful dark shade of mahogany. There were shiny, black, floor tiles, which were made of marble. It looked like somewhere a very rich person would stay.

Everything was nice, until he heard the doorbell ring. '_Who the hell could that be?'_ Thought Naruto to himself as he went to answer the door. Nobody beside himself, Azura and Tsunade knew he was in Konoha.

He answered the door without looking through the peephole. He wasn't really worried about who would be on the other side. He was pretty sure that he could handle anyone one in the village fairly easily. His reaction time was so quick that even if someone were to do a jutsu right in front of him as he opened the door, he would still be able to dodge it. It was funny how he gave all of these topics thought; yet he never thought to actually look through the peephole.

That's why when he opened the door he was more surprised then a lotto 649 winner.

"WHAT THE FU-" was all he managed to say as Sakura captured him in a tackle/hug. Normally he would've been able to dodge, but he was too shocked to move at the sight of her.

He regained his logic and thought patterns as he quickly proceeded to push Sakura away from him.

"W-what are you doing here!?" stuttered Naruto for the first time in at least a year. Funny how the strongest and most evil criminals in the shinobi world couldn't make Naruto flinch, yet at the sight of Sakura he could barley put his first sentence together correctly.

"Naruto, I-I heard everything you said to Tsunade. I don't love Sasuke over you Naruto. How could you think that!?" exclaimed Sakura as tears built up in her eyes.

'_Don't cry Sakura, not now'_ thought Naruto to himself '_No! I have to be strong, she's just lying to me!_'

"How could I think that?, HOW COULD I THINK THAT!? It's EASY; I saw you and Sasuke together in the hospital Sakura. I used to be pretty knuckle-headed, but I wasn't STUPID!" shouted Naruto. "I loved you so much Sakura, I gave you **_EVERYTHING!_**"

Sakura gasped at Naruto's anger, he had never yelled at her like this before. "Naru-"

"Do you have ANY IDEA how much time I've wasted bringing Sasuke back for you. Do you know how many time I've almost been KILLED!?" continued Naruto in his rage. "I would've shown you the scar on my FUCKING CHEST if the Kyuubi hadn't healed it and successfully saved my life. Those sacrifices would've been worth it too, if you had EVER loved me, just ONCE!"

"Naruto, I did love you, I DO love you. This past year has been the worst year of my life. I cried whenever I thought of the good times in my life because all of the good memories had you in them. Naruto I only let Sasuke hold me in the hospital because he was unstable. I didn't want him to run away or hurt himself again! I swear Naruto. I've let him think we're dating so that I could let him off easy. I couldn't crush him right away; I had to make sure he could grow strong enough to deal with it. So we could all finally live in peace again. You are the only one who has a spot in my heart!" exclaimed Sakura while the tears fell freely from her eyes.

"Enough of your lies. You only want me here as a shoulder to cry on when things don't go your way! Only as a tool and a replacement!" cursed Naruto.

"Never, you mean too much to me. Please I love you, please stay with me. I can tell Sasuke the truth. He could handle it now. I think he already knows the truth about my feelings for you Naruto!" Sakura explained.

"Why would I take you now, after Sasuke has had his way with you. I don't want you after you've given yourself to hi-" **Slap!** This wasn't one of those comical punches Sakura used to throw at Naruto every time he made a stupid comment. This was an honest-to-god slap that let Naruto know that he had crossed a line.

"How dare you!" muttered Sakura as Naruto stayed quiet, "I gave you my first kiss, and my virginity. I gave you my heart and my **_true_** feelings. How dare you think that I would let Sasuke have me so easily after he just came back after **THREE FUCKING YEARS! **What kind of girl do you take me for? Not only have I not given myself to him, I haven't even let him kiss me on the mouth!" finished the enraged kunoichi.

"Even if you do love me, I was still second place when it came to him. If he had never left, you would never have fallen for me. Do you know how that makes me feel? Do you have ANY IDEA? When I look into your eyes, I don't see love and I don't feel warmth. I just see those **_second hand emotions_" **Naruto caught Sakura's hand this time, as she was about to slap him. "I DEFY you to say that I'm wrong, I **DEFY YOU TO!"**

"Naruto, I treated you so horribly when I was younger. I'm so sorry. You put up with it and still cared for me. I am certain that I would've noticed you and fallen for you sooner or later. I SWEAR IT!" choked Sakura through her tears.

"HA! If Sasuke had returned your feelings from the beginning, you would've forgotten that I existed. There is no way you could ever prove to me that you would have chosen me over him if he hadn't dejected" finished Naruto in a hurt voice "even if I did still love you, I couldn't stay anyways. That symbol on my cloak means that I have other obligations to fulfill. It could never work. So please just leave me be".

"Naruto, if you want me to leave, I'll leave. But know this. I will prove my love for you. I will prove that you are only one in my heart. It's a promise of a life time…" then she whispered ever so softly that Naruto barley picked it up "…believe it".

And with that Sakura turned and ran out of Naruto's door, no longer crying. She was too strong for that. She would not be a weakling to run away from her problems while crying. She had a new goal to achieve, and new promise to keep, and she would keep it… she would make sure that she kept it.

Naruto just sighed as he shut the door behind her, '_what a fucking night he thought'._

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AN: What do you think about that Chapter? I tried to make Sakura a strong female figure (with Naruto getting slapped and all, I love drama lol). Please READ AND REVIEW. Till next Chapter SAYONARA!


	6. Readjusted

AN: Hello everyone. It's good to be updating again. Umm this chapter might be a little slow because it's going to be Naruto readjusting himself to Konoha. Some things may happen, but it may be a set up chapter once more. We'll see how it changes as I continue writing.

(End of last chapter)

"_Naruto, if you want me to leave, I'll leave. But know this. I will prove my love for you. I will prove that you are only one in my heart. It's a promise of a life time…" then she whispered ever so softly that Naruto barley picked it up "…believe it"._

_And with that Sakura turned and ran out of Naruto's door, no longer crying. She was too strong for that. She would not be a weakling to run away from her problems while crying. She had a new goal to achieve, and a new promise to keep, and she would keep it… she would make sure that she kept it._

_Naruto just sighed as he shut the door behind her, 'what a fucking night he thought'._

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Naruto yawned as he woke up the next morning. He had not gotten much sleep. The conversation with Sakura kept playing back in his mind over and over again. '_She really seemed to love me. This complicates things too much. Even if things did work out, her parents hate my guts so we could never be._' sighed Naruto as he contemplated the thoughts that coursed through his head.

Naruto remembered full well the wrath of Sakura's mom. She had once found them in the park snuggling together (before he left of course). To say that she was pissed would be the same as saying that the Flash was a quick runner (Flash from DC comics if you're curios about the simile). She had told Naruto to never touch her daughter again. She continued saying things such as "you're the reason there are so many orphans in Konoha MONSTER!" or "why don't you do the Yondaime and favor and kill yourself!" Sakura's mother had not known that Naruto was the Yondaime's son (obviously); this being due to the fact that Naruto did not believe it was the correct time to divulge that information to the public. Mrs. Haruno did, however know the Yondaime as a child. They had been good friends.

This was why she hated Naruto so much. Whenever she saw Naruto, she was reminded of all the friends she lost during the Kyuubi's rampage. The fact that her daughter was always with him made Mrs. Haruno even more furious and nervous. She knew Sakura was fond of Naruto, but she did not expect her to get so enraged when she did bother Naruto. Sakura even left her house for a week after the incident.

Mr. Haruno, on the other hand was a whole different story. He didn't "like" Naruto, but he did feel sympathy for the child. Everyone threw glares and hatred towards him. He and Mrs. Haruno would get into fights over the topic. Usually they would end the subject on another note to avoid escalading their anger towards each other. In the though, Mr. Haruno slept a lot easier at night when Naruto left. He didn't hate the boy, but he didn't like the idea of his daughter always spending time with him.

Naruto pushed these thoughts from his mind. He had to cope over the next few weeks. He wasn't allowed to wear his Azura cloak during his time in Konoha. He would have to reacquaint himself with all of his previous friends. That is what he spent the first week doing.

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Naruto found out that a lot of people changed during his one-year absence, while others had not.

Temari and Shikamaru were still dating; they had been before Naruto left. Naruto could see how they loved each other. Temari would often chastise Shikamaru for being very lazy, but Shikamaru put up with it because for one thing it was too troublesome to resist, and the second reason was that he loved it when Temari was rough with him. She had that affect on him.

Kiba starting dating some girl in a clan that used wildcats as their companions instead of dogs. Her name was Aiya. A girl with long brown hair and beautiful gray eyes, with little orange specks on them that seemed like they belonged on a powerful wildcat, they were very sexy. No one thought it would work at first, however, after the first month of their relationship (and A LOT of fights) they were very attached to one another.

Shino was on a long-term mission. He had married a woman in his own clan (once you get bugs crawling inside of you, the only other people who understand you are those who are into the same things). You could not really identify her features. This is because she did the whole sunglasses thing as well. She did have long black hair though. You could see that quite clearly. Her name was Dasya.

Hinata had grown into an insanely beautiful woman. She had great figure and her long black hair looked marvelous as it contrasted against her light skin and eyes. She had grown more confident, and didn't stutter anymore. She was still the quiet type though. She had this serene aura about her. She was, also, still single (to Naruto's unbelievable surprise). This was because she had proven herself to be as strong as Neji, if not stronger. This, and her intense beauty had made men all over Konoha too nervous to speak to her.

Neji had not changed much. He was not the arrogant prick he used to be, but he was still quite stoic at times. Neji and Tenten were now an item. This was not completely unforeseen, due to the fact that they were on the same team as genin.

Lee had changed greatly. He ditched the mushroom cut and had his haircut so that it was spiky, but not to the extent that Naruto's was. He also had a ponytail. He wore a white martial arts shirt with the ying-yang symbol on it. He also wore black baggy pants to go with it. He looked good, so good that he had fan-girls now, and they loved it when he flashed the nice-guy pose.

Chouji was now RIPPED. He had muscles coming out everywhere. But he still had that unstoppable hunger. It was due to his hunger that Chouji found his significant other. That person was Ayame, Ichiraku's daughter. They were perfect for each other. He had a kind heart and would listen to her eagerly as she talked about her day. She would cook ramen for him and watch joyfully as he ate with pleasure. They were made for each other.

Ino had changed greatly as well. She worked in the interrogation firm. She was an expert at cracking through people's minds. She had also grown into quite the beauty herself. She had dated Sai for a while, but it didn't work out, so now she too was single.

Sai had been on a long-term mission as well, and Naruto still hadn't met him yet.

The rookie 9, plus Gai's team was glad Naruto was back. They were very surprised with his new attitude. He was much more calm and collected. He wouldn't make stupid jokes, or yell in public. The one place he was the same was in Ichiraku's though. If there was one thing that didn't change about Naruto, it was his insatiable hunger for ramen. Naruto had also told them the reason that he came back. There was no point in hiding, or sugarcoating the fact that he was going to leave. Everyone was sad, but they were also amazed that Naruto was one of the legendary Azura. They of course all swore that they would never speak of this with anyone outside of their group of friends.

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It had been two weeks since the day that Naruto had come back to Konoha. Finally Naruto had to face the inevitable.

He was working out by the three stumps where he did his first test as a genin with Kakashi. In fact he was waiting for Neji to appear. Neji had requested that Naruto train with him as much as possible. Neji remembered how he had been made a fool of by one Azura member in a black cloak with red lining; he had an idea of the immense power these shinobi possessed.

As Naruto was working out Sasuke had shown up to the trainging area. It wasn't on purpose, this was were Sasuke and Sakura always trained. Today it was just Sasuke though. Sakura was busy helping Ino in the interrogation unit.

As Sasuke saw Naruto he couldn't help but frown a little. Sakura had told him that Naruto was back. In fact he hadn't seemed so happy and relieved in a very long time. She was even happier than when Sasuke was brought back. She, however, did not tell him about the conversation they had that night two weeks ago. Sasuke was also disappointed with the fact that he and Naruto had so much bad blood between them.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know you were here. I won't bother you", said Sasuke as he turned around to leave.

"Hey Sasuke… what I said a year ago, about wanting revenge on you. I'm over it. I don't hate you, its because of you that I'm as strong as I am today." replied Naruto with a sincere smile on his face. '_I have to set things straight, I don't want to leave this village with any anger or discontent'_ thought Naruto.

"I'm glad." alleged Sasuke, "Its good to know that we can put those things behind us. There is one thing that I can't stop thinking about, and that is how I acted during my time under the curse seal. I'll make it up to you for that Naruto, I swear on these eyes that I have."

"I know you will Sasuke, but I don't mind. You've given me everything enough already. It is forgiven", stated calmly, Naruto as he was referring to his position as one of the Azura. It was indirectly Sasuke's doing that had forged Naruto's path to Iwikagure.

"We should catch up sometime", commented Sasuke, "I know you won't be here for long, so lets hopefully do it soon."

"Sure thing", answered Naruto as he turned around to leave. "Anyways I have to go. I see Neji coming, and I promised him that I would spar. But we'll get some ramen later on tonight. Meet me at Ichiraku's at eight, alright?"

"For sure", replied Sasuke as he waved Naruto off. There was still some tension between Naruto and Sasuke, but Sasuke knew that they would set everything straight sooner or later. They were very close friends after all.

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"Naruto" nodded Neji as he saw the Kyuubi container head his way.

"Yo" replied Naruto.

"Before we begin Naruto, I must know something. One of your colleagues in Azura was able to dodge all of my Jyuuken strikes. He had a cloak with red lining on it. He was standing right in front of me and I couldn't touch him. H-how was that possible, what kind of monsters did you train with Naruto?" blabbered Neji, obviously still embarrassed about the confrontation.

"Oh, Kai-san? Hehehehe" chuckled Naruto. "Don't beat your self up too much about that. There was this one time where he dodged my **Nisen Rendan** (Two-thousand Hit Combo), though we still tied at the end. He has a demonically enhanced Sharingan, which helps him a lot. Like I said before, don't kill yourself over it, you probably came a lot closer then a lot of people have ever dreamed." Finished Naruto.

"Sh-Sharingan… demonically enhanced?" stuttered Neji in utter disbelief over the words he had just heard.

"Just forget about it Neji, it would take too long to explain. Trust me on that", exclaimed Naruto.

Neji just nodded as they proceeded to train.

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Mrs. Haruno was walking through the forest back to her house. These forests were the training ground for most of the shinobi in the village. Civilians were told to stay away from this area, but Mrs. Haruno would walk through this area whenever she had to pick up groceries. It was much more convenient for her. She didn't have to walk around the forest an extra fifteen minutes if she could just cut through it and be at her place in one-third the time.

So this was the case today as she was walking on the grass towards her house. All of the sudden she heard Neji's voice yell "LOOK OUT!" As she turned her head to see what he was talking about she heard the sound of kunai flying through the air. Time slowed down as she saw them heading for her. There was no way she could react in time.

Suddenly all she saw was a flash of yellow, and then she felt two strong arms encircle her in a protective hug. Whoever was holding her also took the impact of the kunai, because she could feel the "thumps" as they imbedded themselves into her savior. When she pulled away and looked up, she was surprised to see Naruto's honest blue eyes looking back at her.

"Are you okay Haruno-san?" inquired Naruto casually as he pulled the kunai out of his back, while the Kyuubi's orange chakra proceeded to heal his injuries.

"N-Naruto?" stuttered the shocked Haruno as she addressed the young man by his name for the first time in his 18-year lifespan. "W-what happened?"

"His kunai reflected off of my kaiten," answered Neji as he rushed over to make sure that everyone was ok. Naruto had completely healed by then. "You know better then to walk through here Haruno-san, you could've been injured seriously".

"I'm sorry Neji-san, I won't do it again" replied the relieved Mrs. Haruno.

"Anyways Naruto, I have to leave. Hiashi-san wishes to meet with me in twenty minutes. So I'll see you later" said Neji to Naruto. "Goodbye Haruno-san" he then said to Mrs. Haruno, and with that he was off".

As Naruto turned to leave as well he felt a hand grab his wrist. As he turned around his eyes were widened with shock. "I-I've been wrong about you all along Naruto-san. You took a bunch of knives to the back for me. I'm so sorry", said a teary-eyed Mrs. Haruno. "You're everything Sakura said you were. I-I wish I could take everything back. I'll never be able to repay you for this. I also want to thank you for saving my daughter's life. You've protected that which is most precious to me".

"You've already given me some of the happiest times of my life, even if they only lasted for a little while. No payback is required Haruno-san" spoke Naruto calmly.

Mrs. Haruno was stumped, what did he mean by those words? She had never had any pleasant memories with Naruto before. "Naruto-san I-"

"You gave birth to Sakura-chan. If you hadn't done that, I would have never known how love truly felt. Even though it was one-sided" replied Naruto, knowing exactly why the older woman was confused.

"One-sided? Naruto-san, the way Sakura spoke of you implied that the love you two shared was anything but one-sided. In fact it was the source of many disputes between Sakura and me. I was wrong to think the way I did. Please try not to hate me" spoke Mrs. Haruno sincerely.

"On one condition", said Naruto.

"Tell me what it is", followed Mrs. Haruno.

"Don't call me Naruto-san, it sounds too awkward coming from everyone, just Naruto is fine", explained Naruto with a smile.

"Agreed", replied Mrs. Haruno with a smile to match Naruto's.

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After Mrs. Haruno left Naruto started heading home. He felt someone stalking him. He knew exactly who it was.

"Kakashi-sensei, you don't have to hide from me", spoke Naruto in a very monotone voice.

"Yo" greeted the masked ninja with a wave. His only visible eye was arched like a rainbow to show that he was smiling. "How's it going Naruto?"

"Not bad. Just heading home" replied Naruto. Not really in the mood to talk to his former teacher.

"Look Tsunade told me about your thoughts regarding the topic of Sasuke being my favorite student" said Kakashi as his face hardened. Almost as though his feelings have been hurt. "That may have been the case during the first chuunin exams Naruto. However, that was NEVER the case when he came back from Orochimaru. I thought you would understand that".

"It's in the past Kakashi-sensei, I don't want to talk about it", said Naruto, not liking where this conversation was headed.

"Tsunade also told me of your plans to leave Konoha. To erase all of your history" stated Kakashi. "You can't run away Naruto. You're the only remaining Uzumaki. What would your father say?"

Naruto looked up confidently and answered, "My father has already told me that he would always be proud of me, no matter what I did. I am sure if he were here today, he'd tell you so himself. I chose a path that suited me the most, and now I've become powerful like my father before me was".

Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, we've all dealt with pain before. You have to put that behind you and move on. There are still precious people on our village that we need to protect. I know how it feels. In all truth, I can't ever imagine the pain you felt because of the Kyuubi, I do know how it felt to be alone. When my father died, I hated all of those who turned their back on him after he saved their lives in a mission. They disgraced him for making the wrong choice. I hated them Naruto. I hated them so much. Then I was reminded of Obito, and Rin. I knew then that I had precious people to protect. So I decided to stay and fight for them".

"That's a great story Kakashi. I'm glad you're path helped you get where you are today. But with me it's different. You had Obito and Rin who ALWAYS treated you fairly. Yes you and Obito had some rough times, but he never stabbed you through your chest. Rin never crushed you heart. It's my precious people that drove me away Kakashi. I'm sorry but I can't stay in Konoha", Naruto explained.

"I see" was all Kakashi could come up with. "Well I'm glad I got to see you one last time before you left forever. If you were wondering, both you and your father are both very precious people in my book. I'm sure he'd be proud of you if he could see you now", spoke Kakashi as he placed on had on Naruto's shoulder. He then turned around to leave "I'll see you around kid".

"Later Kakashi-sensei", muttered Naruto.

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Sasuke was waiting at Ichiraku's. The time was 8:02pm when Naruto came walking in. Ichiraku's had become much larger now. There were more then just bar stools, they had tables with waiters. It wasn't too fancy, but it was a nice change.

"So" said Sasuke as Naruto sat across from him on the other side of their table. "What's kept you busy in Iwikagure this past year?"

"Training, missions, meeting new people" calmly answered Naruto while he ordered four bowls of pork ramen. "What about you?"

"Same here. I've been dating Sakura-chan for about a year now", said Sasuke. He didn't want to be a jerk about it. He thought it better that Naruto knew now instead of catching him and Sakura holding hands or being together in public.

"Hm. I'm happy for you", was all Naruto said as he slurped up mouthfuls after mouthfuls of ramen.

"Thanks…" spoke Sasuke, as he could clearly note the insincerity in Naruto's voice. "Naruto, you can't leave again. Come on you do so many great things again now that everything is set right"

"Set right eh. How about this… you brake up with Sakura and let me have her. Then I promise I'll stay" said Naruto in a sarcastic tone, though in his mind he didn't know how much of that proposition was a joke. When he heard no response he stood up and put some money on the table before saying "that's what I thought Sasuke. I don't have anything real to stay here for. Anyways I have to go to Tsunade. She told me I had to do some missions while I was here to avoid suspicion and all. I think she is putting us on a mission together. Me, you and… Sakura".

With that he got up and left Ichiraku's.

Sasuke just sat there thinking '_how does Tsunade expect us to do a mission so quickly after Naruto came. Seeing as Sakura AND me are going to BOTH be on it, that would mean it has to at least be A-rank. If she is letting Naruto come along as well, that means it's probably S-rank. This might turn out to be unpleasant'. _

Sasuke sighed as he got up and slapped his half of the bill on the table and walked out after Naruto.

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AN: well sorry for this slow chapter, but I had to get Naruto back into the groove of Konoha. I also had to write about the other Naruto characters and explain their growth, I also wanted to set it up so Sakura's parents don't hate Naruto later on in the future. Next chapter will be better. You'll have to wait just two more chapters, then you NaruSaku fans will get what you crave (what I crave as well lol). Till the next time I post, SAYONORA.


	7. Mission

AN: Yo, what's up everybody? This chapter is going to be a little more mission oriented, and therefore will deal with more action then romance. I hope you don't mind. Anyways here we go.

(End of last Chapter)

"_Set right eh. How about this… you brake up with Sakura and let me have her. Then I promise I'll stay" said Naruto in a sarcastic tone, though in his mind he didn't know how much of that proposition was a joke. When he heard no response he stood up and put some money on the table before saying "that's what I thought Sasuke. I don't have anything real to stay here for. Anyways I have to go to Tsunade. She told me I had to do some missions while I was here to avoid suspicion and all. I think she is putting us on a mission together. Me, you and… Sakura"._

_With that he got up and left Ichiraku's. _

_Sasuke just sat there thinking 'how does Tsunade expect us to do a mission so quickly after Naruto came. Seeing as Sakura AND me are going to BOTH be on it, that would mean it has to at least be A-rank. If she is letting Naruto come along as well, that means it's probably S-rank. This might turn out to be unpleasant'. _

_Sasuke sighed as he got up and slapped his half of the bill on the table and walked out after Naruto._

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Sakura was already in Tusnade's office as Naruto and Sasuke entered. When they walked through the door Sakura was surprised to see them together as though they had put their quarrel behind them. She also felt very nervous. Here was Naruto, whom she had sworn her love to, and Sasuke, who believed that he and Sakura were dating. In fact they were, but ever since Naruto had gotten back Sakura had looked at her and Sasuke's relationship as nothing more then a very close friendship. To bad Sasuke still wanted it to be more. These were things Sakura would have to worry about later. Now it was time to listen to mission details.

"So…", Naruto broke the silence, "what do we got to do?"

"You three have to travel to the village hidden in steel and retrieve a highly guarded data component" explained Tsunade as she sat at her desk.

"What kind of data is on it?" inquired Sasuke, so that he could understand more about the kind of security that would surround it. See different kinds of information was protected in different ways. Some things were protected by ninja, others by rumor and word of mouth. Different sorts of jutsu protected some of the more advanced things.

Just before Tsunade could answer Naruto cut in with a questioned that had been plaguing his mind. "Tsunade did you just say the village hidden in the steel?"

"Correct" answered Tsunade with a nod.

"That place has been destroyed for 18 years. Some of my comrades used to live in that village, well were at least born there," stated Naruto as he corrected himself.

"For an Azura I thought you would know more then that Naruto" spoke Tsunade. "A city has been built two years ago over the ruins of the old village. It is now called Meterokagure."

"Oh", mouthed Naruto, "I've been there before, I never knew it was the same area that the village hidden in steel once resided. No wonder Vegito-san, Raiden-san and Kiara-san looked so hurt when walked through those streets"

"Naruto, y-you've already been there? That area is so dangerous, the only people from Konoha that have traveled there have been Kakashi and Jiraiya" stammered Tsunade. "Since you already know the area, that means you are of great service to us on this mission. You can make the retrieval much less risky"

"Of course I can. All the scumbags of that once-great city fear the symbol on my cloak. I probably know where this item is located as well, if you tell me the building it is held in". Muttered Naruto, obviously disgusted with this particular city.

"Tsunade, if this is a retrieval mission, why are we getting an S-RANK quota on our reports? Aren't retrieval missions usually ranked A-RANK max?" pondered Sakura.

"That fact is true. But the rank in this case has been lifted to S because Akatsuki have appeared more often in Meterokagure then any other city", answered Tsunade. "In fact that's why I am sending you three, seeing as you are capable if you work together".

Naruto then burst out, "Tsunade, take Sakura and Sasuke off of this mission! They aren't ready for the likes of Akatsuki-"

"AND WHAT, YOU WANT TO GO ALONE!? I WON'T LET YOU GET HURT NARUTO" interrupted Sakura as she yelled.

At the sight of Sakura's outburst Sasuke couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in his heart. "Naruto, Sakura fought and killed Sasori, with help granted, but she knows full well the capabilities of these Ninja".

"That was Akatsuki when we were 15 Sasuke!" protested Naruto. "It's been two and a half years since then, Akatsuki is on par with Azura. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"

"Naruto…" whispered Sakura, "p-please let us help. Sasuke and me have trained very hard. We aren't weak! Sasuke has the Mangekyou Sharingan, and I have learned how to use two elements when it comes to ninjutsu. Also remember that monstrous strength of mine?" chuckled Sakura softly.

"This isn't a laughing matter Sakura, if anything were to happen to you-" Naruto stopped. He had let is slip. He was so worried about Sakura that he had allowed himself to slip and show her that there were still some very powerful feelings under his new persona.

'_Naruto'_ thought Sakura as her heart swelled with joy. '_There's still something there! I know it! I can see it in your eyes!'_.

Sasuke too looked from Naruto to Sakura, his heart dropping faster and faster. Yet he didn't say anything, he stayed strong. He then spoke again "you never did say what was on that data component Hokage-sama".

"Ah sorry Sasuke. That component contains economic files on all of the hidden villages. Not just the currency trades or the stocks. It contains the number of ninja's each village has and what their skills are. How much these ninjas contribute to their countries economic growth. It is all information that must be destroyed," said Tsunade. "It is being held in the Central Network Tower" she finished.

"That place isn't guarded by ninja's Tsunade. It is a seal-locked building. Nothing but defensive seals everywhere" stated Naruto.

"That'll be easy for you then, no Naruto?" asked Sasuke as thought they had just figured out the solution to each of their problems.

This time it was Sakura that spoke "actually Sasuke, Naruto couldn't use the Hiraishin in there. It's seal-locked; all of these seals placed in there are used to negate chakra from your body. If Naruto were to transform his body into energy, like he does when he uses Hiraishin, he'd be consumed and destroyed".

"So its like a chakra vacuum in there? Forget about retrieving the component, how are we supposed to last in there without getting the energy drained out of our body?" asked a confused Sasuke.

"That's where I come in", replied Naruto, almost as if on queue.

"Oh yes, you have Kyuubi's chakra to help you. It has an infinite source of chakra", replied Sakura as though she had answered the question correctly like she used to back in the days of the academy.

"Nope. Those seals have been manipulated to detect irregular chakra, such as the Kyuubi's" said Naruto. "I'll be using my own chakra, since the Kyuubi's has been mixing with mine during the days of my childhood. My overall capacity is much larger then yours or Sasuke's. It will probably take me four hours to find that component, and I reckon I can last a good five hours… max though. "

"Naruto that's too dangerous" both Sakura and Sasuke said.

"Plus" added Sasuke, "what if your body starts to react to the loss of chakra and subconsciously decides to activate the Kyuubi's? Four hours in a chakra vacuum is intense, I could probably only last a good 8 minutes".

"Yeah Naruto, if your demon chakra goes off we'll be caught and trapped" continued Sakura.

"I've already thought of that and have an answer to that problem. Sasuke, you remember how you were able to cut Kyuubi's chakra off with your Sharingan when I tried to get you back from Orochimaru a couple of years ago?" questioned Naruto.

"Yes", replied Sasuke, with a slight shutter from those memories.

"You can do again so that Kyuubi's chakra can't activate" clarified Naruto.

"Yeah, but back then you and the Kyuubi weren't in sink with each other. Now you've unlocked Kyuubi's full potential and I don't think I can restrict that kind of power. Its like it's at a whole other level" finished Sasuke.

"So just use a whole other level of Sharingan. The increase in power from normal Sharingan to Mangekyou Sharingan should cancel that problem out" responded Naruto.

"But then your Kyuubi's chakra might be sealed away permanently" countered Sasuke.

"Easy there buddy" said Naruto sarcastically, "you're Sharingan may have increased the magnitude of its abilities, but the magnitude of its increase in ability comes nowhere near the magnitude of ability increase my second chakra has unlocked… if anything my second charka will eat through your Sharingan's mental seal after five hours. Therefore it will just be a time limit for me during which I can't use Kyuubi. Trust me if after five hours of being in that tower we still haven't got the component, then the mission might as well be a failed one".

"True" said Sasuke. "Ok let's do it".

"**Tsukuyomi!**" yelled Sasuke as he dived into Naruto's mind. There he saw the hallways, which divided Naruto's thoughts. He came to a giant cage.

"_**ITS YOU AGAIN UCHIHA, BE QUICK. I CANNOT TOLERATE THE PRESENCE OF YOUR INSOLENT SOUL!**_"growled the agitated Kyuubi, for he was aware of what was happening. He still hated Naruto, but ever since Naruto had overpowered Kyuubi in his mind (therefore unlocking his full potential) he had stopped talking to the shinobi. Both were happy with the new arrangement. 

Sasuke said nothing as he focused a new layer of chakra on the seal that was already made by the Yondaime. It was shaped similar to the curse seal he had when he was under Orochimaru.

As Sasuke came back to the real world he just thought of something. "Naruto you baka, why did you make me do it now. We still haven't gone to Meterokagure!".

"We'll be there in a second anyways," said Naruto as he held out his arms for both Sakura and Sasuke to hold on to. Both knew what would happen next.

Something the hit Sakura, "but Naruto, you haven't placed any seals in Meterokagure, how are we going to-"

"I'll explain that later Sakura" responded Naruto.

Just before everything in sight turned into a flash of yellow, Tsunade's voice spoke "be careful!"

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The three Nins appeared on top of a large building. The city was very awkward and full of large, weird buildings. These buildings had unordinary piping designs in them. (If you have read the Manga and are up to date. Remember the statue the Akatsuki leader was sitting on when he told Kakuzu and Hidan to retreat from Shikamaru after they had killed Asuma. Meterokagure is THAT city, the one with all the pipes and tall buildings).

"OH SHOOT, BE RIGHT BACK!" exclaimed Naruto as he flashed out.

Sakura and Sasuke were in shock, Naruto had just DITCHED THEM in the worst city possible. They waited three full minutes in utter shock. Naruto then flashed back.

"I forgot my Azura cloak" he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

Sasuke and Sakura had the big white, comical, anime eyes a character gets when they can't believe what they just saw.

"NARUTO!!" yelled Sakura as she smoked him on the nose. Though she giggled a little at her thoughts '_the old Naruto is coming back, the Naruto that I love'_.

They had found the Central Network Tower. Sasuke proceeded to trans-dimensionally remove a piece of the wall so that Naruto could enter the building. It was currently 10pm. The perfect time to rob the place. This was because all the mercenaries and scum came out at this time of night. So if people would try to identify the thief, there would be thousands of possible candidates.

Sakura and Sasuke stood watch as Naruto proceeded to enter the building. Inside there were seal markings all over the floors, ceiling and walls of the corridor (picture the seals that were used when Neji was healed after his battle with the spider guy from the Sound 5). These seals gave off a dim blue glow and Naruto could feel his chakra starting to drain. There were no people guarding the rooms. There wasn't a need. No one except a Jinchuuriki could survive in there and how often do you see a Jinchuuriki? There were cameras, but the Azura hoodie solved that problem quite easily. The building had 11 floors with 20 computers on each floor. Naruto proceeded to wipe all the hidden village data on each computer. When he got to the final floor, he found the data component and crushed it. It had taken exactly four hours, just as Naruto had predicted. Naruto couldn't use any jutsu in the building because it would indicate a spike in the chakra measures the building calculated. That meant Naruto had to climb all those stairs while simultaneously loosing chakra at the same time. He was very tired by the end of the night. He had used the Hiraishin long distance; he had spent 4 hours worth of chakra, and climbed 11 floors. He couldn't use Kyuubi to regain his strength. Naruto was very exhausted.

When he got out to meet Sasuke and Sakura he could barley stand. They started heading home again. Naruto said he wanted to conserve some energy so he didn't faint. That's why he didn't use the Hiraishin.

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The trio walked along as they talked about the details of the mission. They were heading to the outskirts of the city where the forests began. They would have to wait 50 more minutes till Naruto's Kyuubi chakra kicked in. As they reached the outskirts, they noticed that it was vary desolate. There were no people present among the scattered alleyways that ended right before the clearing that was the entrance of the forest.

All of a sudden a dark laugh was heard among the shadows of the alleys.

"Kukukuku" laughed Kakuzu as he stepped out of the alley's shadows. "Brat you think I've forgotten what you did to me when you were younger? You with that Fuuton Rasengan".

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were caught in a bad predicament. They were at the edge of the city, where the buildings ended and the forest started. Naruto had a fraction of his chakra left, while Sasuke too was tired from using his Mangekyou twice in one day. All they had was Sakura who had a full bill of chakra.

Sasuke then asked Hidan (who was still in the alley behind Kakuzu), "How did you escape the Nara clan's forest?"

"Easy", replied Hidan, "Zetsu was able to find me, and Kakuzu pieced me together with his chakra strings. I'm dying to get my revenge on that twerp who blew up my body, but you will do fine for now"

"Sasuke, set up a barrier and divide them up!" ordered Naruto, taking command of the situation.

As Kakuzu was already out of the alley Sasuke threw two kunai with seals on them. These kunai each embedded themselves on both of the walls that formed the alley. A purple barrier then appeared which separated Kakuzu who has stepped out of the alley, and Hidan who remained trapped in the alley.

"Sakura, can you handle Kakuzu for small while?" asked Naruto as his breathing became hard.

Sakura just nodded as she had a stern look on her face.

"Sasuke, help Sakura", Sasuke nodded as well.

Naruto then transported himself into the barrier with Hidan in it.

"What a brilliant strategist you are you stupid SHIT. You barley have enough chakra to stand, let alone fight. You can only use one big attack, and you have no attack strong enough to defeat me in one hit. Your Fuuton Rasengan didn't finish Kakuzu off, what the FUCK makes you think it's going to work on ME? You can't kill me with a stab wound or a ripped torso, YOU CAN'T WIN!" taunted Hidan.

"You'll see" was all Naruto said. '_Vasto-san, time to use **that** technique'_ thought Naruto.

He then proceeded to create a Fuuton Rasengan in his left hand. Next he pulled out a katana from his cloak. The katana was long and completely black, except of the edge of the blade, which was silver. The sword had a small guard, but it wasn't visible from further then two feet away.

"What, you're going to hit me, and then try to stab me after you've used all your chakra? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!" yelled Hidan as he charged for Naruto.

"You are weak, your Akatsuki's one-trick-pony, and I will finish you off once and for all" retorted Naruto.

With the Fuuton Rasengan complete in one hand, Naruto took his sword and started to push chakra in it. He then removed his hand from the Fuuton Rasengan, and it floated in the air just in front of him, still retaining its shape. Naruto lifted his chakra-enhanced-sword above his head with one hand and brought it down through the Rasengan, cutting it in half. What happened next was insane. As he slashed through the Rasengan, all the chakra exploded out like a wave engulfing the entire alley in bright chakra, and completely destroying Hidan.

"AAARRRGGHHHHH!" was Hidan's last word as his body was completely dissolved from explosive nature of Naruto's sword jutsu.

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Meanwhile on the other side of the barrier Sakura and Sasuke where staring down Kakuzu. One of Kakuzu's masks quickly ripped out of his shoulders and fired a great lighting shot at the two shinobi. Neither could dodge. Sasuke was forced to open a rift with his Mangekyou to transfer the energy to another dimension. That was the third time he had used Sharingan today. This caused his body great strain.

Kakuzu then spoke, "Fools, still you resist. The Azura would have a hard time with me, and you think you stand a chance-"

Kakuzu was quickly forced to dodge a giant crack in the earth, which caused jagged rocks to sprout out at him. He looked up and Sakura breathing hard as her hands were still in a seal position.

"Taking advantage of my monologues eh you pink-haired bitch? That was a powerful justu, but you can never compare to me woman!" roared Kakuzu.

"**Katon Zukokku!**" yelled Sasuke while Kakuzu bickered on and on. A great blast of fire shot forward towards Kakuzu in a straight, concnetrated path. Kakuzu quicly countered with a water attack from one of his masks. The water took the shape of a vortex as it spun and canceled out the fire.

"Very powerful fire technique boy. But you are still lacking" said Kakuzu.

"I'll show you lacking, **Amaterasu!**" shouted Sasuke, as black flames shot out of his eyes towards the Akatsuki member.

Kakuzu mixed his fire mask and wind mask to make the great flame jutsu he had used against Kakashi years ago. To Kakuzu's surprise, the Black flames ripped right through the orange ones.

"OH SHIT!" yelled Kakuzu as he forced one of his masks to block the flames so that he could make his escape. As he dodged the flames (while sacrificing one mask) he was watching to make sure that he could fully out-manuver the the attack. As his attention was being misdirected Sakura forced a great amount of chakra into her fist a delivered a crushing part to Kakuzu's chest. This caused another mask to crack on the inside of his body.

"You two are starting to annoy me!" spoke Kakuzu, "your making me angry, and you wouldn't like me very much when im angry."

Just then Sasuke colapsed. He had used his Mangekyou four times that day. Sakura gasped as he fell to the floor.

"I have three hearts left, and that will be more then enough for you" said Kakuzu.

He then shot a ball of chakra at Sakura who was too concerned with the fallen Sasuke (cause he was her teammate) to fully dodge the attack. That's when she saw a flash of yellow flicker before her eyes. Naruto appeared and had used the last of his chakra to cancel Kakuzu's attack.

"S-Sakura-chan, run, just please leave NOW!" spoke Naruto with his remaining bits of energy.

"Naruto, I won't leave you," whispered Sakura as she proceeded to heal her teammate with all the chakra she had. Naruto had been in that building for four hours, and had used an upgraded version of the Hiraishin many times today (the reason he didn't use seals will be explained later). He had also used his sword jutsu to kill Hidan. He couldn't call on Kyuubi for at least another 35 minutes either. If Sakura didn't use her chakra right now, he would surely die. Sakura proceeded to pump almost all of her chakra into Naruto. All this did was make sure that Naruto would not die from chakra depletion. Naruto still couldn't move.

"Sakura-chan, you wasted your chakra on me. Now he'll kill all three of us. Why didn't you leave, why Sakura-chan", said Naruto with tears in his eyes.

"I'd throw my life away Naruto, just for five more minutes with you" said Sakura as she bent down and kissed Naruto on the forehead.

Naruto paused, then spoke, "Sakura-chan… it can't end here-"

"It can, and it WILL!" yelled Kakuzu. His three remaining masks then joined, and his black tentacles spread everywhere. He released a huge blast consisting of fire, wind, and lighting. The three elements swirled together as the headed for Naruto and Sakura (also Sasuke, but he was unconscious, and off to the side of them).

Sakura squeezed Naruto tightly as his head was rested against her in her lap. She closed her eyes waiting for death. Naruto to embraced Sakura with shut eyes.

The attack caused a huge explosion, followed by large amounts of dust and smoke everywhere. Kakuzu stared triumphantly as the smoked cleared away. However, when all the smoke was gone, there was shock and fear all over his face.

'_Am I dead?_' thought Sakura to herself. She then opened her eyes and looked down at Naruto who had the same confused look in his eyes. "B-but how?" she asked herself quietly.

Then she looked up. A cloak was flapping in the wind that blew the smoke away. The cloak bore the dragon symbol on the back as he stood between them and Kakuzu. His arms were crossed as though he was bored, and unimpressed by the powerful attack that he had just nullified. His stare was deadly as his crimson hair fluttered in the wind.

There stood Gaara, strong and powerful as he glared into the fear-filled eyes of Kakuzu.

"I will crush you" was all Gaara said as he still stood there with his arms still crossed over his chest. The brown/bronze lining of his cloak gleaming in the night sky. The second of the Azura had appeared...

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AN: CLIFFHANGER! Ayaaa! That was a long chapter. I hoped you liked it. I purposely put Naruto at a handicap so I could bring Gaara into this fic in a cool way. Next chapter Gaara will deal with Kakuzu and they will return to Konoha. More NaruSaku drama will follow. Till next chapter SAYANORA!


	8. Love

AN: Yo! Thanks for the reviews everyone. This chapter is Gaara vs. Kakuzu. Then the return to Konoha, and the resolution of the Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke love triangle. I hope you'll enjoy it. On goes the story, BYAH!

(End of last chapter)

'_Am I dead?' thought Sakura to herself. She then opened her eyes and looked down at Naruto who had the same confused look in his eyes. "B-but how?" she asked herself quietly._

_Then she looked up. A cloak was flapping in the wind that blew the smoke away. His cloak bore the dragon symbol on the back as he stood between them and Kakuzu. His arms were crossed as though he was bored, and unimpressed by the powerful attack that he had just nullified. His stare was deadly as his crimson hair fluttered in the wind._

_There stood Gaara, strong and powerful as he glared into the fear-filled eyes of Kakuzu. _

"_I will crush you" was all Gaara said as he still stood there with his arms still crossed over his chest. The brown/bronze lining of his cloak gleaming in the night sky. The second of the Azura had appeared._

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Gaara looked at Kakuzu quietly. He then spoke again. "I would advise you to try to escape, but then again there is no hope for you"

"You're the one who fights with the sand. I've heard of you, the brat that Deidara beat. You don't even have your gourd, which was your only trump card. I'll destroy you and consume your heart" strut Kakuzu confidently, after overcoming the initial shock of witnessing Gaara.

"I have no use for a gourd," replied Gaara with an eerie sense of serenity in his voice, "now prepare to die"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S ABOUT TO DIE NOW!" screamed Kakuzu as he launched his tri-elemental attack at Gaara.

Gaara tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough and was hit by the full force of the attack.

"HA!" shouted Kakuzu, "YOU'RE NOTHING COMPARED TO ME AZURA FOOL!".

All of the sudden Gaara's body dissolved into sand and blew into the wind.

"WHAT THE FUC-" Kakuzu stopped when he realized Gaara was on a rooftop looking down at him with eyes that would make a demon cringe.

"Did you really think you could kill me with a technique I already nullified. You sure are stupid" smirked Gaara.

"I'll finish you", sneered Kakuzu. "TAKE THIS!" He then shot out a whole bunch of black chakra tentacles towards Gaara.

The tentacles where intercepted by arms made of glowing bronze sand. The sand appeared out of the air that surrounded Gaara. The sand battled all the tentacles around Gaara as Gaara stood still with his arms crossed the whole time.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SAND COMING FROM?!" yelled Kakuzu in desperation as his tentacles where being countered easily, "YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR GOURD!"

"I can control my sand down to its very molecular structure," responded Gaara, " I brake the sand particles down so far that they blend in with the wind, and aren't noticeable at all. I can call it forth whenever I please. I can also create it if I need a greater quantity"

"Why does it glow that way?" asked Kakuzu, referring to bronze color of the sand.

"That is because my demonic chakra is infused in the sand. Before one of the sands weaknesses was that very fast shinobi could overcome it. Now with chakra in it, the velocity and force of the sand has increased drastically. The sand also becomes harder then steel. Therefore my defensive and offensive capabilities are much greater"

"Th-That's unreal" gasped Sakura.

"That's Gaara for you" replied Naruto.

"I'm going to finish this, I grow bored of you" spoke Gaara in a tone that was flat and deadly. He concentrated the sand over his head, then with one hand he flashed through about 8 seals very quickly. A bright red glow appeared below Gaara's feet. This glow turned into flames that surrounded his body and flew upward to collide with the sand. The sand then combined with the flames to turn into lava. Gaara held his right hand up like someone who was about to signal the start of a race. He then flung his had down and with that motion a giant wave of lava flew at Kakuzu. As the wave flew through the air it appeared to take the shape of a giant satanic head (with horns and all).

"ARRRGGHHHHH!!!!" screeched Kakuzu and then the lava that overtook his body muffled his voice out. His three remaining masks were destroyed and he perished in the hot, coursing liquid.

He turned around to see Sakura's stupefied face, while Naruto just looked like he hadn't seen anything special. Sasuke was still out cold. The group waited till Naruto's time lock on the Kyuubi's power was over, after which he proceeded to transport everyone to Konoha.

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The next day…

The mission had been successful and everyone received their pay. Sakura was unsure what to do next. She had to confront Naruto. She went to his apartment and knocked on the door.

Naruto came to answer the door. When he opened it his face seemed to look a little disappointed, "What can I help you with Sakura?"

"Can I come in first?" asked Sakura while looking straight into his eyes.

"Oh of course you can, how rude of me, sorry" replied Naruto.

"It's forgiven" responded Sakura sincerely.

When they were both inside and sitting on a leather couch that Naruto owned (which went quite nicely with his mahogany walls and black floor tiles) he asked again, "what can I do for you?"

"I-I wanted to talk about us…" said Sakura as her confidence was starting to diminish a little.

"Sakura look… I… we already talked about this. It just can't work. I can't stay here, and I'm not the one you truly want Sakura. I can't live a lie, I was living a lie my whole life in this village, and I can't continue" spoke Naruto in a hurt voice.

"You think my feelings for you are a lie? You think that I still want Sasuke over you? WHY DO YOU KEEP MAKING THINGS SO DIFFICULT!?" shouted Sakura, "JUST TELL ME IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE WITH ME… just please don't lie" Sakura whispered that last part.

Naruto was baffled, "I… Sakura you've loved Sasuke your whole life, you always will-"

"Don't tell me who I will always love Naruto!" Sakura interjected. "If I loved Sasuke all my life, why did I do all these things for you, why did I come back today after the way we screamed at each other the first night you came back!?"

"It's probably because you're insecure about Sasuke. He left once and your scared he'll leave again. You're afraid that he isn't going to make a bigger commitment to you Sakura, but he will, and you'll be happy…" finished Naruto, those words hurting him more then Sakura.

Sakura had tears in her eyes. This was the second time Naruto had rejected her. She got up and walked out of the apartment. She didn't look back. Naruto's heart was cracking with each step she took out the door.

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Later that night…

Sasuke had called Sakura to meet him at the Uchiha mansion. He heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it. When he found the pink-haired beauty on the other side, he couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Sasuke, how's it going?" asked Sakura with a smile.

"Not bad, please come in, make yourself comfortable" Sasuke motioned with his hand towards his living room.

As they sat and drank tea in an awkward silence, Sasuke spoke, "Sakura… I… when we nearly died on this last mission. It made me think about a lot of things. It made me think of how much you mean to me, how much I care for you and love you-"

"Sasuk-"

"Sakura, let me finish" motioned Sasuke as he held his palm up in the position you would when you are making an oath. Sakura simply nodded.

"When I thought of these things, it made me realize how little time we have. Sakura, I know me and you haven't been very intimate, but I can look past that as long as the feelings are there." Sasuke then got down on one knee and took out a small black box. "Sakura… please marry me, I love you so much. I want to spend my life with you" He then opened the box, which contained a ring made of a gold band. It had a pink diamond, surrounded by many white ones.

Sakura gasped as she held her hands over her mouth. Tears streamed down her eyes, "Sasuke its beautiful… b-but I can't"

"W-why not!" spoke Sasuke as he jumped to his feet, "I love you Sakura, why can't you love me back, why can't you love me like you used to!?"

"I'm sorry Sasuke, I-I just can't, I CAN'T" sobbed Sakura.

"Its because of him isn't it. You can't get over him. He doesn't want you Sakura, he's leaving, why are always attracted to the type that hurt you!?" asked Sasuke.

"I hurt him, and he still did all of those things for me. When you were gone, he was there Sasuke. When I mumbled your name instead of his, he was there. When my parents didn't approve of him and purposely hurt him, he was still there for me. I'm sorry Sasuke, but how can you ask why I care about Naruto. He's done too much for me. I can never love anyone else like I love him" spoke Sakura in between sniffles.

"He doesn't feel that way about you anymore, and I care about you now. I thought you loved me!" spoke Sakura.

"I never cared about him, or his feelings when we were younger. I shunned him and cursed him. I hit him and never acknowledged his presence. He still fought for my love. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had let Gaara kill me. He had put up with so much, and still he tried so hard to be with me. I sent him out to bring you back and he did, at the cost of his own heart!" shivered Sakura as her cries were starting to become uncontrollable. "That's why I must fight for him, like he fought for me. I will never be happy with anyone else, I'm sorry Sasuke. You'll find someone else who will make you happy, there are plenty of girls that love you in this village" finished Sakura.

"No one could replace you!" countered Sasuke

"And no one could replace Naruto, not even you" finished Sakura.

Those words hurt Sasuke a lot. '_I guess he's not dead-last anymore'_ thought Sasuke to himself as he heard Sakura leave with the slam of the door.

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Even later during the night

It was raining. It was raining very hard. Naruto was running. He was running towards the one path that you took to leave the village. The path he and Sasuke both walked. Sasuke had called him and told him what had happened. Naruto didn't know why he should go to this particular place, but his gut feeling edged him on. When he got there, it turned out that his gut feeling was correct.

There near the end of the village stood Sakura. She had a nap-sack on her back that was packed full. She stopped to look back at the village before she turned around to walk.

"SAKURA!" shouted Naruto, "SAKURA, DON'T LEAVE!"

Sakura turned around with a shocked face, "Naruto, what are you doing here?"

"Sakura don't leave, why are you leaving? Sasuke proposed, isn't everything going to be fine now? He won't leave you" spoke Naruto.

"Naruto… you're so dense. I'm leaving cause I have nothing left here. I'm leaving for the same reason you left. I have nothing important in this village. I feel empty and alone" beamed Sakura.

"What are you talking about? You have your family. You have your dreams. You have Tsunade-sama to teach you. You have your whole life ahead of you. Why would you leave Konoha?" asked Naruto.

"All of this… it isn't worth anything… not if I can't be with you", finished Sakura as she eyed the ground while the rain poured down causing her bangs to cover her eyes.

"Sakura, you risked your life to stay with me. You refused Sasuke's hand in marriage to be with me. Now you're throwing everything away cause you can't have me. I'M NOT WORTH IT SAKURA!" retorted Naruto while tears streamed down his cheeks.

"You're going to leave in a month anyways, so I have no reason to stay here", said Sakura as she turned around and started to walk away.

She was stopped as she felt a hand grab her wrist. Another hand then snaked its way around her waist and stomach. She felt a big strong body press against her back. She heard his voice muffled by her hair. Naruto spoke while inhaling as much of her as he could, "you do have a reason to stay here, and that reason is me".

He then removed his right hand from her wrist and brought it up to her chin. He tilted her head backwards and leaned in. Sakura closed her eyes as she felt Naruto's lips press against hers. She reached both her hands up behind her head and grabbed the back of Naruto's head. She pulled his head in as close as possible so she could deepen the kiss.

Naruto flashed his tongue out against Sakura's lips. Sakura got the message as she opened up and let Naruto's tongue enter her mouth. She sucked on it lightly, and licked it as much as she possible could. This earned her some groans from Naruto. Naruto then proceeded to move his left hand (which was at Sakura's stomach) up and under her shirt. He fingered his way under her bra to her delicate breast as he massaged it gently. Sakura moaned delightfully at this.

They stopped to breath. They had been kissing for a good minute. Naruto then spoke, "just hold on to me". Sakura did as she was told, and the next thing she knew, they were in Naruto's apartment, in his bedroom.

"I've waited so long, I need this so badly" spoke Naruto in a hoarse voice, which showed his yearning.

"I want you inside me" mouthed Sakura against Naruto's face as she kissed the corner of his mouth.

Naruto was standing while Sakura was kneeling on his bed. They started kissing once more. Naruto unbuttoned Sakura's top as she undid his pants. In the 30 seconds both were naked as they tumbled around on the bed while kissing passionately, loving the way each other's skin felt when it touched their own.

Naruto made his way on top of Sakura, putting his weight on her. Sakura wrapped her arms around his shoulders and brought him closer to her. He started to kiss her neck slowly, loving the slight salty, almost sweet taste of her skin. He moved down to her collarbone dabbing his tongue gently on her. This caused her breathing to quicken and her moans to increase in repetition. After her collarbone he kissed his way down to her breasts as he took one nipple in his mouth, and the other he stroked with his hand. At this Sakura grabbed his head and pressed it down harder against her chest. Naruto then switched nipples. After the nipples he kissed around her bellybutton and even stuck his tongue in it, which brought up giggles from Sakura, "N-Naruto, don't do that" she laughed. Finally Naruto went downstairs. He spread Sakura's legs open slowly. He kissed her inner thighs before flicking his tongue out on her clitoris. Sakura squealed in pleasure at this. Naruto ran his tongue up and down her opening very slowly. He stuck his tongue in a couple of times, feeling Sakura getting wetter and wetter as he did it. Finally she climaxed as she groaned very loudly.

Naruto crawled up to her face and said, "you taste so good Sakura-chan, ramen will never be as good as you are".

"Naruto, you're so silly" giggled Sakura, "but I love that about you… I love you, so very much Naruto"

"I know, but I loved you first" said Naruto as he stuck out his tongue in a playful manner.

Sakura seized the opportunity and quickly sprung her face forward and took Naruto's tongue in her mouth. They began to make out again. Sakura then slithered her way down Naruto's body. She reached his manhood and took it into her mouth. It was big and Sakura had a hard time fitting it in her mouth completely, but Naruto didn't force her, he was patient, and he was enjoying it. He threw his head back as he grunted in ecstasy.

"Sakura, I'm going to-" Sakura pulled off, "hey no fair, I let you cum when I was down there"

"Easy there bub!, unless you never want to see it again" spoke Sakura with a playful glare, which shut Naruto up pretty quick, "Now Naruto, I've waited a whole year, please, just take me. Make me yours, and let me make you mine"

"For you, anything" whispered Naruto into her earlobe as he licked it.

He then lifted Sakura's left leg over his right shoulder, and spread her right leg out to the side. He then asked "protection?" To which Sakura replied, "all kunoichi have to take the pill". That was all the info he needed as he entered her slowly and softly. That was the tempo until he heard her speak his two favorite words "N-Naruto, h-harder", Naruto couldn't keep his lady disappointed. He began to thrust and thrust and thrust. Going harder each time, "Naruto, oh g-god, oh I love you. I love you. It's hard to breath without you. OH OH OH GOD!" Sakura shouted. Naruto then lowered her leg off of his shoulder and put it to the other side of his waist so he could go on top of her and press his body as close to hers as possible. He then firmly squeezed her ass and swung it into his body as he started going harder. "Oh Sakura, you drive me nuts. You're fucking AMAZING! OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Naruto grunted as their sweat mingled with each other's. They moaned, yelled, and grunted as the sound of their bodies slapping together could be heard. Sakura was the first to cum, Naruto would only last a couple of seconds longer. He looked into her eyes mentally asking _'could I cum inside of you… please'_ at first Sakura gave him a glare then screamed _'HELL NO!'_ then she closed her eyes and smirked and proceeded to nod. Naruto then released himself inside of her. Sakura felt the warm liquid in her body. She loved the way it felt as she grinded her hips against Naruto slowly as the climax was coming to an end.

Naruto fell down on her and had his head in the crook of her neck. He was about to get up so that she could be comfortable, but he was stopped by Sakura's arms wrapping around his shoulders. She wanted his weight to stay on her, to cover her from everything bad in the world. He protected her, and she would also protect him. Naruto started to close his eyes as he fell asleep in the crook of Sakura's neck. Before he drifted off he whispered, "I love you, my beautiful Sakura-chan" against her skin.

Both slept silently and happily that night.

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AN: YAY NARUSAKU! Finally lol. I hope I wrote that lemon well. I'm not too good at doing lemons. Anyways I hope that temporarily satisfies our NaruSaku fixes lol. Till next chapther SAYONARA!!!


	9. Happiness

AN: Hello again everyone. Thanks for the reviews. I'm so glad that you guys enjoy this story that I'm writing. We've finally got Sakura and Naruto together. There is a lot to be taken care of still though. There is the rest of Akatsuki, and Naruto has to find a way to stay in Konoha because he made an obligation to Azura. This chapter will also go into depth as to why the Azura won't let Naruto stay in Konoha. Anyways for now, lets have a little fluff and get on with Konoha business.

(End of last chapter)

_Naruto fell down on her and had his head in the crook of her neck. He was about to get up so that she could be comfortable, but he was stopped by Sakura's hand wrapping around his shoulders. She wanted his weight to stay on her, to cover her from everything bad in the world. He protected her, and she would also protect him. Naruto started to close his eyes as he was falling asleep in the crook of Sakura's neck. Before he drifted off he whispered, "I love you" against her skin._

_Both slept silently and happily that night._

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Naruto woke up to a beautiful morning in his apartment. Sunlight shone in through the window and birds chirped outside. It was a gorgeous Saturday morning and Naruto felt rested and energized. All of his stress was gone. He looked up to see Sakura still sleeping with the sweetest smile he'd ever seen. The smile she wore melted his heard instantly. He nuzzled into her soft skin, because he could never ever get tired of the feeling. As he nuzzled he placed an open mouthed kiss on her neck, loving the sensation it gave his tongue. They were both still naked, and Sakura's soft body was melded perfectly under his. He rolled off onto the side, because he felt guilty about putting all his weight on Sakura, who was smaller then he was.

He positioned himself to the left of Sakura with his cheek resting on his hand (which was supported by his elbow on the bed). He just lay there admiring Sakura's beauty and tranquility as she slept. Then he heard her whisper, "Naruto… stop looking at me like that, you're making me nervous".

Surprised that she was awake, he smiled.

"Hehehe, sorry. I can't help it. You're so beautiful. Time spent looking at you, is time well spent" he chuckled.

"Na-ru-to, stop being so corny. You're making me blush," giggled Sakura innocently as she turned her red face away. "Do you mind if I borrow some of your clothes? I want to stay here with you for a bit before going home today".

Naruto grinned as he replied, "Go ahead, and wear whatever you like, except the Azura cloak. You're only allowed to wear that when it's the only piece of clothing you got on, and we're about to-" BONK!

"Gosh Naruto", sighed Sakura after she hit him on the head "is that all you ever think about?" she finished as she got out of the bed. Her naked body was bathed in the sunlight coming in through the window, making her look divine.

Naruto couldn't help but lean to the edge of the bed and reach out to pinch one of her smooth bum cheeks. Sakura turned around and gave him a glare, which wasn't all anger; part of it was seductive as well.

Naruto grinned, "wasn't me" he spoke as he held his hands up like a soccer player who had just committed a foul but was trying to convince the ref otherwise nonetheless.

"Too bad it wasn't you" replied Sakura with a naughty smile; "because now I don't know whom to punish" she continued to smirk as she walked away slowly while swaying her hips from left to right.

In an instant Naruto embraced her naked body from behind in a tight hug. "Alright, I confess… it was me. The guilt's been tearing away at my heart and I can't make it stop" he spoke light heartedly.

Sakura leaned back and captured his mouth in a deep, soft kiss. "Too bad champ, the case has been closed. You'll have to wait till I decide to reopen it," she said as she disappeared in one of the other rooms to find something to wear.

Naruto sniggered to himself as he put on some underwear. He quickly found a pair of baggy, dark blue sweat pants and a black t-shirt. He snatched a pair of slippers and walked out onto his balcony that gave him a great view of the Hokage monument.

"I hope you weren't watching us all night out there" spoke Naruto leisurely as he leaned against the railing of the balcony looking out over a stunningly snow covered Konoha.

"Yes, because watching you make love to Sakura is the first and most urgent obsession on my list of things to do at one in the morning" replied Gaara as he stood on the top of the building (Naruto's apartment is on the top floor).

"Then what brings you hear on a Saturday morning at-" Naruto paused, looked inside his apartment for a second and came back out before continuing, "11:34 in the morning?".

"I came to talk to you about what you're doing with Sakura. You have to cut this out Naruto. You only have about a month left in Konoha before you have to come back to Iwikagure" spoke Gaara.

"I know Gaara, but… I want to stay. Sakura, she's the most important thing in my life Gaara. Azura will understand that. Most of the members will be happy for me" spoke Naruto as he that fact allowed him to cheer himself up a little bit.

"That's all true. MOST members will be happy for you, but _he_ won't. He doesn't believe in the bonds of love Naruto. You know how he is. He'll be angered that you decided to choose a woman over your fellow Jinchuuriki" countered Gaara.

"Vegito…" Naruto sighed as he thought to himself.

"That's right" nodded Gaara, "and his opinion is the one that really matters. You know he won't stand for it, especially after we've all made a commitment to the organization Naruto. He won't just up and let you leave"

"He isn't a bad guy though, he's just… cold" murmured Naruto with a sad look on his face. "He's afraid of emotions that are more intimate then friendship. He's afraid of love, he's afraid that it will hurt his friends in the same way it torments him"

"That's not hard to expect after what he's been through Naruto. You should know. The events that occurred during the first day of his life were unbelievable. He is lucky his mind was strong enough to stay stable at such a young age, it just goes to show how powerful he is" finished Gaara.

"I know," replied Naruto, "he's felt pain equivalent to ours and them some"

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What Gaara meant when he said "_The events that occurred during the first days of his life were unbelievable_" referred to the day when the three Winged Gods attacked the village hidden in steel and completely destroyed it before it was rebuilt as Meterokagure (check chapter 3 if you decided to skip it because of its boringness). Vegito had been the final of the three children to have his inner deity sealed inside of him. After Oneiga was sealed in Vegito, the Yondaime Dakukage (Vegito's father) was so tired that he only had a tiny little bit of chakra left (to barley stay alive). Vegito's birthing had been done in a rush so that he could be used for the sealing, and therefore didn't have enough energy to stay alive for much longer. His father, knowing this, pumped the last of his energy into his little child to save him. Vegito sapped his father's strength away in order to survive. In the process, he killed his father. Here is where everything went wrong. Due to the extreme shock and chaos Vegito's bloodline limit was activated the day he was born. He was a Xhejshu, and their limit was the Kutkogan. If you read back to chapter 3 the Kutkogan's most amazing ability was that it could gain the experience of the foe the user had just killed.

That was where the problems started. At the ripe young age of one day old, Vegito was exposed to countless deaths at the hands of a Kage as revered as the Yondaime Hokage, and the Sandaime Kazekage. That wasn't the worst bit. Vegito felt all the pain that his father felt when he found out that his wife died during the birthing of their son. Furthermore the pain he felt knowing that he would never see his beloved son grow up. He in addition felt the pain of watching his companions all sacrifice their lives for the sealing techniques he used on the three children (this was because he was only one man, the Yondaime had trouble enough with the Kyuubi, and that was only one deity, the Yondaime Dakukage had to seal three away, he was only human, and his companions offered their souls to save the village along side him). Yet the worst pain Vegito could remember his father feeling was the pain of knowing that he had willingly placed an insurmountable burden on his only son. All of this psychological stress at his young age had caused Vegito to stay away from love. It was a known fact that Kiara (of the Azura) loved Vegito since their days as genin (being in the same squad along with him and Raiden). Vegito also felt emotion for Kiara as well but he was reminded the pain his father felt due to loved ones he lost and decided not to act on his emotions for Kiara. This had also caused him to want to look out for his friends. He didn't want his friends to feel the pain he felt.

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

It was in this quality so as to Naruto knew that Vegito would not let him stay in Konoha. Vegito knew that the villagers would detest him, and force him away again. That meant leaving Sakura and having his heart break all over.

"Poor guy, he has no idea when it comes to things like this" spoke Naruto more to himself then to Gaara who just nodded. "What about you Gaara, how do you feel on the topic of love?"

"ME? I don't know, I feel it unnecessary in all truth" he spoke with a sigh. "I've been so fucked up for most of my life I'm having trouble coming to terms with the fact that people accept me, let alone the thought of love. There is no one out there for me Naruto; I can't get along with normal girls. They bicker, they want to talk and express themselves with words and vibrant emotion. Me I've always been a fan of silence. I don't know if I can find anyone for me"

"There's always someone for everyone Gaara, its just a matter of time" Naruto answered back

"Hmm, well maybe we'll see," said Gaara as he was about to leave

"Hey Gaara, Sakura and I, we're going to go to the park in about 40 minutes, you can come along if you'd like" offered Naruto.

Gaara just smiled, "I'd like that"

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As Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara walked through the breathtaking park, which was covered in a layer of bright, white snow they all laughed with one another as they talked.

"So Gaara, has Naruto gone after any of the fan-girls that followed him around in Iwikagure?" implied Sakura in a deadly voice as she turned to Naruto (on her left) and gave him a demanding look which had one of her eyebrows arched while the other dipped a little bit.

"Haha… Sakura-chan, come on you know I wouldn't" spoke Naruto as he carefully chose his words. Sakura was VERY jealous when it came to these matters.

"Actually he's telling the truth Sakura. He never did follow up on the '_more then reasonable_' offers those women made him" Gaara paused for a second to think back, "come to think of it he was always too busy reading his books"

"Really!" exclaimed Sakura, obviously proud that Naruto had started reading on his own behalf and increasing his intellect, "what was he reading?"

At the sound of this Naruto (who was standing to the left of Sakura, because Sakura was in the middle and she was paying attention to Gaara, on the right, while he spoke so she couldn't notice Naruto) started waving his hands all over the place and ran his hand across his neck in an attempt, through sign language, to get Gaara to change the subject.

Gaara didn't see Naruto, as he too was speaking with Sakura and that's when he let it slip, "Well Naruto's addicted to the Icha, Icha series. I don't think there has been one time outside of battle that I haven't seen him without one of those colorful books in his hands... except for today"

Sakura clenched her teeth and barley ushered "bookssss… as in MORE THEN ONE!?"

"Yeah", replied Gaara still oblivious to what was going on, "he's defiantly read the whole series more then three times over"

As soon as Gaara finished, the sight of Naruto running with all the energy he had could be seen and heard from anywhere in the park. "SAKURA I SWEAR THEY WERE JUST FOR RECREATIONAL USE. THAT'S IT!!"

"NARUTO YOU PERVERT, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M GOING TO TAKE THOSE BOOKS AND SHOVE THEM SOO FAR UP YOU ASS YOU'LL BE COUGHING UP DIALOUGE FOR A WEEK!" roared Sakura as she chased him through the park.

Gaara just put his hand up to his forehead and sighed. Then he heard a soft voice speak

"Some things just never change no?" said a astonishingly beautiful Hinata as she walked up and greeted Gaara with confindence he couldn't remember her having.

"It's been a long time, how've you been?" she continued looking into his soul with those, calm and translucent white-eyes.

"Y-yes, it has been", answered Gaara as he screamed in his mind, '_DID I JUST FUCKING STUTTER!?, god she is so breathtaking'_.

"Hmm not very talkative are you? I'm the same way, how about we just enjoy a nice quiet walk through the park today? Would you mind that?" asked Hinata as she tilted her head while she staired into Gaara's eyes.

"Not in the least" Gaara whispered quietly.

Hinata just smiled and laced her fingers through his as she took Gaara's hand in hers. Gaara didn't flinch at the touch. He just squeezed her hand a little tighter to let her know that he wasn't afraid.

They were both so very similar; they enjoyed the quiet serenity of the park as they walked hand in hand, occasionally glancing at one another.

Gaara then broke the silence, "what brought you to do this?"

"I like you" Hinata answered with that ironclad confidence.

"When did this happen? I thought Naruto was the Jinchuuriki for you?" questioned Gaara, caught a little off guard by her honesty.

"I liked Naruto because he inspired me to be stronger, and because of him I did get stronger," retorted Hinata.

"If that's the quality you seek in people, then why me. When I was younger, I was the opposite of Naruto, I was a cold and murderous being", finished Gaara as the memories brought up some suppressed pain. You could tell because he scrunched up his face as she spoke those words.

Then his face turned to one of surprise when she cupped his cheek, "Naruto inspired me to grow strong, but I still hated the emotionally weak person I was. YOU inspired me to CHANGE, for the better. I remember when you came to Konoha one time as the Kazekage. Everyone loved you and cheered for you. I saw the change you went through, and I wanted to change like you. Now I'm just as strong as Neji, if not stronger. Don't tell him I said that though, he gets pretty jealous… I also stopped stuttering... Oh and the fact that you're pretty damn hot doesn't hurt" Hinata finished with a wink.

Then it was Hinata's turn to get caught off guard as Gaara grabbed the hand that cupped his cheek and laced his fingers through it. He then brought the back of her hand to his mouth and kissed it softly, "thank you," he whispered.

"There's no need for thanks" she whispered back as laced her arms around his neck and put her head in the crook of his neck. They hugged tightly for a long time before starting to walk again.

When they finally found Naruto and Sakura they were quite surprised. Instead of finding Naruto's guts plastered all over the park, they found him lying on his back with Sakura straddling him while they made out.

"How the hell did that happen?" asked Gaara, obviously confused.

Sakura broke the kiss, and breathed heavily, "the baka has a way with words" then Naruto pulled her back down and started kissing viciously again.

Gaara and Hinata just smiled at each other. Gaara understood the bond that Naruto wanted to keep by staying here. '_Maybe I'll stay here as well' _thought Gaara as he felt Hinata lean her head on his shoulder '_Maybe things will work out with Azura, and Vegito will understand… or then again, maybe not. We'll just have to find out Naruto"._

AN: How'd you like that chapter, I got a little GaaHina in there. Bet you didn't see that one coming eh. Sorry for the OC bit in the middle, I know it slowed down this chapter, I just wanted to justify why the Azura will try to force Naruto back. I also didn't want you to hate Vegito, even though he's an OC. I hope you don't have how OC I made Gaara and Hinata. Anyways I was thinking if I should write a lemon for Gaara and Hinata, buhhhhh I dunnno. Anyways hope you like the chapter, till my next update SAYANORA!


	10. Staying

AN: Yo everyone! How's it going? Thanks for all the reviews, 100 is a lot more then I ever imagined I'd get. I'm trying to keep this story interesting for everyone but it's getting a little harder. However I'll continue to write until people tell me that the story is truly getting boring… anyways this chapter is going to be about the council, and some Gaara Hina citrus hehehe…, more NaruSaku. ON WITH THE STORY!

(End of last chapter)

_Gaara and Hinata just smiled at each other. Gaara understood the bond that Naruto wanted to keep by staying here. 'Maybe I'll stay here as well' thought Gaara as he felt Hinata lean her head on his shoulder 'Maybe things will work out with Azura, and Vegito will understand… or then again, maybe not. We'll just have to find out Naruto"._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_In Gaara's apartment new boundaries were being broken quickly. He and Hinata were making out slowly and passionately. Hinata was the more dominant of the two so she was being more aggressive. This was due to the fact that Gaara was not used to intimate human relationships.

They were in Gaara's bedroom and Gaara was on his back. Hinata was on top of him as they continuously kissed and groaned in pleasure. Gaara and Hinata both had their shirts off, but Hinata still had he bra. Gaara sat up while Hinata was in his lap. She guided his hands to the back of her bra strap. Gaara had never taken a bra off before, but thankfully Hinata had known this and had gotten one that used Velcro strapping. As the bra came off Gaara fumbled with Hinata's breasts. He had so much caged emotions from not ever having been intimate with anyone. This caused him to shiver, as he was nervous. He didn't want to overdue it with Hinata.

Hinata however felt this sense of nervousness and she smiled. She the whispered into Gaara's ear, "its ok, I want it just as badly as you. Please don't hold back" with that she shoved her hands into Gaara's pants and started to jerk profoundly. Gaara moaned loudly. He grabbed Hinata, tore off her remaining clothes, and held her up against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he began to thrust hard. He increased his tempo and with that his breaths became shorter and more desperate. Hinata was moaning out loudly as she loved what Gaara was doing to her. Shit bit his lower lip as he kept pushing himself into her. Gaara mouthed the words "oh god" and Hinata kept repeating "yes, yes, yes". They kept going harder and harder and harder. Hinata then pushed Gaara onto the bad and she rode on top of him. She kept grinding herself into him until they climaxed.

After they were done and were lying beside each other on Gaara's bed. Hinata breathed out, "That couldn't have been your first time"

"I'm afraid it was" Gaara chuckled, "why was I that amazing?"

"Yes" Hinata breathed out before she could control what she was saying.

They both laughed as they lay together on the bed.

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It had been a month and a half since Naruto had returned to Konoha. Tsunade had filed all of his history and all the necessary precautions had been taken care of in terms of deleting his file, yet maintaining the records of his interactions on the missions he had completed. Now all that was left was the meeting with the council, which Tsunade thought would go pretty smoothly.

So there they were, the 8 members of the council. There was Tsunade herself. There was Hiashi Hyuga (head of the Hyuga clan, and also Hinata's father). There was Danzo. There were also Unagi and Shinto, which were on the Sandaime's genin team when he was but a boy being taught by the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages. There was Saido who represented the economic aspect of Konoha. There was Takumaji who dealt with foreign relations. Finally there was Horiadi who represented what the average citizens of Konoha wanted.

As all the members of the council took their seats Tsunade began. "I have all called you here regarding the topic of Naruto Uzumaki. I have sent you all reports informing you of his wish to leave Konoha. I all I need is a majority vote to allow him to go and that will be all" she paused "last time I checked, the notion of the Kyuubi leaving made you all happy, so I assume that this should be a quick ordeal"

There was an awkward silence. Then the old lady known as Unagi spoke "Hehehe, that boy that wanted so desperately to be Hokage finally decided to call it quits eh…" she paused and what she said next got a shocked expression from Tsunade. "It's a shame really… he's become so promising, he's decided to leave when the villagers have finally started to take a liking for him"

'_Since when have any of the elders cared for Naruto at all!?' _Thought Tsunade to herself.

Then came Shinto, "its true, I haven't seen fire like that in the eyes of Naruto since the days of his father the Yondaime. In fact the last time I saw eyes that burned with that desire to save the people of our village was the last time I saw Sarutobi-dono. There is no doubt that this boy would've made a fine Hokage" finished the old man with a small glint of sadness in his eyes.

Everyone was quiet.

Tsunade the spoke again, "I am now starting the vote on the destruction on Naruto's file. All those who agree put your hand up now"

Again to Tsunade's surprise only three people put their hands up. These three people were herself, Danzo, and Takumaji.

"Why is it that most of you refuse to let us remove this demon from our history?" spoke Danzo with great venom in his tone.

Unagi answered him with equal venom, "we have always listened to you because you were on par with the Sandaime, but you've been wrong about him all along. I will not let the boy leave because he can do great things for this nation"

After Unagi finished Shinto continued, "he is the best candidate to be the next Hokage, and if things continue the way they are, he will achieve this goal at an even younger age then his father".

After another moment of awkward silence Danzo began again, "and you Horiadi, you've always represented the people. The citizens of Konoha have hated the demon for years, what is it that holds you back?"

The 45-year-old man just sighed and began, "things have changed Danzo. In the short time that he's been back all of the citizens seem happier again. He's done things like getting cats out of trees for seniors and children. He saved the life of a baby who had wandered onto the street and had almost been run over by a carriage. Women run after him in packs. Though there have been some cases where these fan-girls have been attacked and almost assaulted by a pink-haired kunoichi, however those disputes were dealt with and nothing got too out of hand. The people care for Naruto now, its as though we've… missed the joy he brought to our village" finished Horiadi with a sincere smile.

Danzo once again began to argue, "Hyuga you always opposed the demon. What has the demon done to earn the favor of the most powerful clan in the Leaf?"

Hiashi sat there quietly then spoke words no one had ever heard from him before. "That boy is more powerful then anyone I have ever seen. He has been able to change fate since he was born. They day he was born, we were fated to die. The day he fought my nephew he was fated to lose. The day he retrieved the Uchiha he was fated to take his place below his "superior" teammate and rival. He has decided his own outcome. It is because of him that I have stopped putting seals on branch members of our clan, and it is because of him that I have removed the seals from those who had them… well because of him and that pink-haired kunoichi, she was the first to derive a solution to removing permanent seals. The boy… Naruto, he has united the Hyuga clan. He is an inspiration. I would have no other shinobi be our Hokage".

Tsunade was devastated by Hiashi's words. Tsunade then continued, "well its too bad that you all feel this way now, because I'm invoking my right as Hokage which give me 3 extra votes, and I vote for Naruto's file to be deleted. It is what he wants. He will be leaving in half a month anyways"

The council remained silent. They all knew they had no right to keep the boy after they'd mistreated him so terribly. They all hung their heads in shame, except for Danzo who was the epitome of human scum.

Unfortunately for Tsunade this was the second time Sakura had been behind the door leading into her office, and had overheard things that she was not supposed to hear.

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Naruto lay on his couch with his feet up. He had just finished training so he came home and decided to catch up on some reading. He had recently received the latest installment of Icha, Icha and he was enjoying it thoroughly. '_I can't believe I used to think this series was crap when I was younger. Ero-sennin was right, this is writing at its best'_ thought Naruto as he paid attention to the "artistic"expressions that were evident in this certain series.

That was when the door flew open and in came a crying and VERY ANGRY Sakura.

"NARUTO HOW COULD YOU!?" she screamed (referring to what she had heard at the council's meeting)

Poor Naruto thought she was talking about the novel he was reading. "S-SAKURA-CHAN, I-I SWEAR THIS… I… UH… ERO-SENNIN MADE ME REVIEW IT TO SEE IF IT WAS READY TO BE PUBLISHED!" Naruto lied horribly.

"I'm not talking about that you baka! YOU'RE GOIN TO LEAVE AGAIN!!" Sakura cried violently, "after you told me that you loved me… after we made love to each other and I put my heart out for you."

Naruto then jumped up and tried to console Sakura by hugging her but she wouldn't let him. Sakura then continued, "maybe I should've stayed with Sasuke…" she lied to herself.

It was Naruto's turn to cry now, "Please S-Sakura, its true. I was planning to leave before I knew that you loved me. That's because I'm part of Azura Sakura. They won't let me stay here. Please don't leave me Sakura, you… I need you so much. I may seem strong in your eyes and in the eyes of all these people, but without you Sakura I'm nothing. I'm weak and afraid… and I'm not ashamed to admit these things to you… because I love you so much. Please Sakura, I'll stay; I'll find a way to stay. I want to live my life with you."

"N-Naruto", Sakura cried softly as she hugged him and buried her face in his neck. She subsequently whispered to him, "s-silly baka, why didn't you just tell me earlier. Why didn't you just ask me to come along with you? I would gladly come with you to the ends of the earth Naruto."

"I'm not going to take you away from your home Sakura. You know that" Naruto breathed into her beautiful hair.

"Our home" Sakura finished, "its _our_ home Naruto."

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto asked nervously.

"Hmm?" she replied as her eyes were closed and she nuzzled into Naruto's embrace with bliss.

"My apartment… it gets pretty lonely at times… uh… what I'm trying to… what I mean is… I want you… to" he just couldn't finish his question, but Sakura answered nonetheless.

"Of course I'd love to move in with you Naruto… we could have a lot more sex that way no?" chuckled Sakura as she proceeded to give Naruto a hickey on his neck. "I hope that's not the only reason you want me here though Naruto… because with me around I'm more then positive that your lifestyle will change drastically. I'm not the kind of wife that cooks, cleans, and behaves perfectly Naruto. I'm not a robot"

"That's why I love you Sakura. I'm more then willing to change some things about my life so that I can be with you everyday" he spoke easily as he gave into the feeling of Sakura's tongue on his neck.

Sakura continued to kiss him softly while pushing him down on his sofa. She then proceeded to sit on his lap while continuing her kisses. She stopped for a second and said, "I've set up a little test to measure your commitment after I found out about your decision to leave Konoha" whispered Sakura as she continued to tease him while she massaged his shoulders and chest as she sat on his lap

"Anything" replied Naruto hoarsely as he grabbed Sakura's firm butt and groped it slowly. She leaned into him and started kissing him again. Then it happened. Sakura's test and Naruto's (or any other teenage male's) worst nightmare.

The door opened and in came Mr. and Mrs. Haruno. Their faces were shocked. This was Sakura's way of getting it in the open AND testing Naruto's commitment to her. If they could overcome her parents, nothing would be able to stop their relationship. Sakura had told them to go to his place so that they could explain to Naruto that they were sorry (because Sakura didn't believe they were honest when her mother had explained to her that she no longer hated Naruto for being the vessel of the demon fox).

However, Mrs. Haruno now hated Naruto for the fact that he was violating their sweet little cherry blossom.

"GET OFF OF MY DAUGHTER YOU HORMOANE DRIVEN LUNATIC!" screamed the furious Mrs. Haruno.

Sakura's father didn't say anything. He just took a step back because he didn't want to get anywhere near the ticking time bomb that was his wife.

Sakura jumped off of Naruto and turned around to her mother, "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY BOYFRIEND!?" she screamed trying to get her mother as aggravated as possible.

'_Oh god, I'm toast' _though Naruto as he was about to black out.

"I SAID HE IS A SEX CRAZED PSYCHO!" said Mrs. Haruno as she was slowly walking towards Naruto while rolling up her sleeves and getting ready to deliver a lethal blow to Naruto.

Then Mrs. Haruno felt something she'd dearly missed for the longest time. Sakura hugged her mom and cried soft tears of joy "thanks mom… you didn't even mention the Kyuubi, you were only worried about me having sex with Naruto. You've changed and I'm so glad, I've missed you so much"

Sakura and her mother had been on bad terms ever since Mrs. Haruno had shown her clear distaste for Naruto. Now that was over and the two were happy to be on good terms with each other. Then they heard Mr. Haruno burst out with anger.

"DID YOU SAY SEX!!!?" he screamed as though he was going to explode and take half of Konoha with him.

"Calm down honey" said Mrs. Haruno "Sakura's grown up… she's 18. And don't you remember the kind of things we did when we were young?" finished Mrs. Haruno, clearly not upset anymore. She was actually happy. Since Naruto had come back Sakura was more alive and pleasant to be around.

"I guess you're right" sighed Mr. Haruno giving up.

"Thanks mom, thanks dad. I'm going to be moving in with Naruto now, we've taken the next step" finished Sakura trying to get their parents to miss the last couple of words. Unfortunately she failed… miserably

"WHAAT!?" screamed Mr. and Mrs. Haruno together.

Naruto then found his consciousness, "please don't worry about her. I'll do everything I can to make her happy. I swear it on my life. She's the most precious person I have."

Mrs. Haruno then smiled, "we know Naruto, its ok we don't mind that Sakura moves in with you. Just please come visit us once in a while"

"And don't forget to use protection" finished Mr. Haruno

"DAD!" yelled Sakura.

Sakura's parents turned to leave. Naruto went and closed the door behind them. When he came back to the living room he saw the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in his life. There was Sakura looking through his Icha, Icha book.

She then looked up and smirked. She purred in the most seductive voice "Naruto-kuuuun, after tonight you'll never have to read one of these books again. It's the promise of a lifetime." And with that Naruto grabbed Sakura, carried her on his shoulder away into the bedroom. Meanwhile Sakura giggled as she was being hoisted by Naruto.

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The next day Naruto went to Tsunade's office with Gaara. They approached the Hokage and Naruto spoke, "Tsunade, I've decided to stay. Gaara wants to stay as well. I hope it's not too late"

Tsunade just smiled as tears of happiness dripped down her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to destroy Naruto's file after the meeting with the council, and she was now glad she didn't.

"Of course you can stay Naruto," she whispered as she smiled.

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AN: Well there is another chapter posted. I did a little Gaara/Hinata lemon there. However I don't plan on making many more Lemons in this fic. I might make one later on, but it'll just be Naruto and Sakura. Next chapter we get back to some action. Anyways I hope you liked this chapter. Till my next post SAYANORA!


	11. Freed

AN: Heeellloooo everyone. Thank you for the reviews once again. I'm very glad that you still enjoy this story. It is now time to pick up on some action once more… AND meet some more of the Azura hehehe. Anyways there might not be as much fluff in this chapter but I want to get some fights in nonetheless because you guys have been asking for em. So with no farther ado lets get on with the story CHA! () Shoots fist in to the air like an anime character ()

(End of last chapter)

_The next day Naruto went to Tsunade's office with Gaara. They approached the Hokage and Naruto spoke, "Tsunade, I've decided to stay. Gaara wants to stay as well. I hope it's not too late"_

_Tsunade just smiled as tears of happiness dripped down her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to destroy Naruto's file after the meeting with the council, and she was now glad she didn't._

_"Of course you can stay Naruto," she whispered as she smiled._

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It had been a day after Sakura had moved in with Naruto, and Naruto had decided to stay in Konoha.

He had received a call from Tsunade, which informed him that he, along with Sakura, Sasuke and Ino had another S-RANK mission.

Naruto and Sakura had gotten ready and were walking through the streets of Konoha in the direction of the giant gates, where they would make their departure. Naruto had refrained from wearing his Azura cloak due to the fact that he was representing Konoha on this mission. As Naruto and Sakura walked hand in hand they noticed something that Naruto had been wishing for all of his life. People were smiling at them. There were honest, genuine smiles directed towards Naruto and Sakura.

What happened next made Naruto cry tears of joy. A young girl, no older then 3 years came up to him and hugged him around the knees. She was small and had long brown hair. She had beautiful green eyes that were darker then Sakura's paler emerald ones. She looked up to Naruto and said, "mister, my mama tow me about how evewyone was mean to you. We'we all sowwy. We wove you wevy much. Mama tow me to tew you that we'w all be waiting fow you when you come back".

Sakura's smile reflected her joy as Naruto hugged the little girl and kissed her on her forehead. He then whispered to her "tell you're mother that you, her and everyone else in this village have all become my very precious people once more... Thank you very much".

Naruto and Sakura resumed walking towards the gate as the little brown-haired girl ran back to her mother while yelling "did you see mama, did you see, he said we'we all his pwecious peopwe mama".

When they got to the gate they found Sasuke leaning against a wooden post with his arms crossed. Sakura had not spoken to him since rejecting his offer to marry her. She felt a little nervous about how things were going to go.

To her surprise however Sasuke was beaming with happiness. He greeted the two enthusiastically, "Dobe, Sakura. What's up!?".

"What's got you jumping around like a fish out of water teme?" asked Naruto with a quizzical look on his face.

"Ino-chan, she finally agreed to go out with me!" exclaimed Sasuke.

"Finally?" asked Sakura looking confused while scratching her head, "I thought she was head over heals for you?"

Sasuke chuckled and then began to explain

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Flash Back right after Sakura rejected Sasuke… 

_Sasuke had felt like shit, actually he felt worst then shit. This being because he himself knew that Naruto deserved Sakura more then he did. It was that fact that led to his depressed state._

_He wandered out of the Uchiha compound and through the streets of Konoha as the rain swept the village. There in the rain he saw her. Her figure was divine as her hair sparkled in the moonlight. He walked up her and spoke while his eyes were captivated by her sparkling blond hair._

"_Ino, its cold outside. You shouldn't be walking through the streets right now" he voiced his concern._

"_Oh hey Sasuke" replied Ino, "me, I'm fine don't worry about it. Shouldn't you be with Sakura right now?"_

"_She… she left me. I don't blame her, she chose the right guy in the end" spoke Sasuke. Still clearly hurt._

"_Naruto eh" chuckled Ino._

"_How'd you know?" questioned Sasuke quite shocked._

"_I'm sorry Sasuke, but Naruto he's done everything for Sakura. It was only a matter of time." Ino retorted calmly, "When someone does so much for another person, that kind of thing is inevitable. I could see it in her eyes. Since the day she found out that Naruto was the one who saved her from Gaara in the Chuunin exams… things were never the same."_

"_That long ago eh?" spoke Sasuke with a smirk, truly realizing that Sakura had belonged to Naruto before Sakura herself had known._

"_Yup" answered Ino brightly while her incredible blue eyes shone through the darkness of the rain._

"_You know. I'm not sad about Sakura anymore. I'm just sad that I took a great thing for granted while I had it. That goes for you too. You used to like me when we were younger, and now you've grown into an extraordinary women." He finished sincerely._

"_Th-thanks" Ino blushed._

"_I only speak the truth" finished Sasuke, he then spoke again with light in his once dark eyes, "you wouldn't mind going for some dinner would you?"_

"_Sasuke… It's been a long time since the days I had feelings for you. I'm not the same fan-girl I used to be" she finished slowly, trying not to upset the Uchiha, "plus I don't want to be the rebound girl"_

"_You're not the rebound girl," Sasuke stated clearly. "Y-you had feelings for me before Sakura did. You must've felt sad for a very long time. I'm sorry I treated you so badly. You're beautiful, and you've become powerful, and very respectable. You have a lot of great qualities Ino. Please let me make up for my past. I'll show you the love you once showed me"_

"_S-Sasuke" Ino stuttered as her blush grew even bigger, "o-ok… but on one condition" She then glared "don't try to get fresh, and if I catch you with one of those fan-girls Sasuke…"_

"_You won't" Sasuke smiled (for his own safety of course) "you can trust that"_

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End Flash Back

"Wow" Sakura chimed, "I'm glad to hear that. I'm happy for you Sasuke".

"Thanks Sakura" smiled Sasuke as he held his thumb up in a Rock Lee-like gesture.

Then Ino came walking up to the trio. "Hey Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke" she greeted as Sasuke walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"uh-huh" she replied.

They all then turned to Naruto who explained the details of the mission. The four ninja were to travel to a city called Hawanagi. They were to escort a highly educated engineer to this city. It was much like the first mission they had to the wave country, except more dangerous. Assassins were following this engineer. These assassins were hired by the big corporations that ran the cities power. See this engineer, he had developed a way to produce much more affordable and environmentally friendly energy for the city of Hawanagi. This new, cheap, power would run the polluting and expensive power-producing companies out of business. That was why these giant corporations had hired the best of the best when it came to assassinating this engineer. That meant that the Konoha nins would have to deal with the Akatsuki.

So as they started walking Sakura asked, "hey Naruto, why don't you just transport us to Hawanagi like you did when we had the mission in Meterokagure?"

"Ah Sakura-chan, this'll be sort of hard to explain. See I've altered the Hiraishin into my own version which is better, if I do say so myself. I don't need to write a seal but I still need to make use of a seal to get to the location" he said.

Sasuke looked confused, "there wasn't a seal when we got there the last time you used it" he spoke in a very confused tone.

"Well here is how my version is better then my fathers. I can transport myself to any place that my chakra has once been released. This is because chakra infuses itself in the atmosphere after it has been dissipated; therefore remaining there long after the user is gone. Actually bits of chakra remain there forever. I've been in Meterokagure before, with Azura so I could transport myself there again". He stated clearly.

Then Ino spoke, "yeah well that still doesn't explain much because the Hiraishin is derived from seal usage. The fact that you use only chakra still doesn't make sense" (Naruto had shown her and the rest of the rookie 9 this technique so she knows about it). The blond pondered.

"Umm. How to explain this? Aha! Do you know how Kiba and Akamaru's great sense of smell works even in wet conditions where the murky smell of the water covers up the scents they track?" questioned Naruto.

The other three ninjas just shook their heads.

Naruto continued, "When chakra leaves the pores of your skin it takes the characteristics of your body's energy with it. In Kiba's case it takes your scent from your skin. In situations where conditions prevent scents from being detected Kiba and Akamaru have trained their noses to pick up the chakra characteristics left behind by the user. That way then can track them no matter what. They follow the chakra trail instead of the actual scent, you know because everyone's chakra is slightly different".

"Yeah but Naruto I'm still confused as how you can derive a seal in your chakra to transport you to wherever you've once been. There is no seal magi-" then she understood. Unfortunately the other two didn't. She wasn't the smartest of her class for no reason you know.

Sasuke and Ino too understood what Sakura had figured out once Naruto lifted his shirt and showed the crew the seal his father had placed on his abdomen as a baby. He further continued to explain, "when I release any chakra it has to be filtered out through this seal first. When my chakra passes through this seal it picks up its properties along with it; therefore leaving invisible seal traces in the air in every area I've visited. This makes it easy to transport myself almost everywhere in the world because I've traveled a great deal with Azura. Unfortunately I've never been to Hawanagi before so we got to go the old fashioned way hehehe" he finished chuckling.

Sasuke was shocked, and then he spoke, "Naruto… I knew you'd become stronger, but I never knew you'd become this strong. You CREATED a jutsu which is even MORE unbelievable then the Hiraishin. You've out-done the Yondaime TWICE! Once with the Fuuton Rasengan, and now this. Your dream of being Hokage isn't very far off at all Naruto"

Naruto just grinned as he rubbed the back of his head.

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

After 5 days of traveling they had reached Hawanagi. They had not been ambushed yet because Sasuke's Sharingan always kept the gang ahead of the game. However they did run into trouble at the gates of the city. At the gates there stood 1200 mercenaries. They

were mostly Jounin level. They had all come from many countries to retrieve this bounty.

Naruto and Sasuke could've killed them all, not easily though. There were over 1200 of them. Naruto was strong but 1200 Jounin level nins… Naruto wasn't a god, well unless he opened a can of Kyuubi whop-ass on these men. Naruto told Sakura and Sasuke to back up. He motioned for Ino to come forward.

He then whispered to her, "hey Ino. Can you capture them all in your mind transfer technique if you had enough chakra?"

She looked stupefied, "Y-yes, theoretically, but I'd need a chakra source the size of-"

"Let me take care of that" Naruto interjected confidently.

The Mercenaries all laughed at the sight of only four 18 year olds. It actually did look ridiculous to people who didn't know better. However, everyone's laughter died down when Naruto stood behind Ino and grabbed her shoulders. Ino the flashed through a bunch of seals and screamed, "**Shintenshin no Jutsu!**" with that Naruto burst out with a HUGE wave of red chakra and pumped it through his hands into Ino as he held her shoulders.

Before, the destructive nature of Kyuubi's chakra would've killed Ino, but ever since Naruto had learned to control the potential of his inner deity (thanks to the teachings he gained in Azura) he could change the nature of the chakra to one that wouldn't harm Ino.

The giant mind transfer technique had caught all 1200 of the Jounins. It had also knocked Naruto and Ino unconscious. They would remain that way for at least half an hour because they had so many minds to cipher through. That is when things took a turn for a worst.

Sakura and Sasuke just watched in awe as the all of the 1200 ninja was incapacitated. Then they heard the laughter.

"Kukukuku, I can't believe that plan worked out so well" chuckled Deidara to Tobi. "Now that the Azura is taken care of, for the moment being… we can dispose of these clowns and get the bounty on that engineer, yeah"

"Yes Deidara-sempai. That was quite an ingenious plan to threaten to destroy the villages of all these men if they didn't comply with your orders" sniggered Tobi.

"That's why Naruto didn't just want to kill them!" shot out Sasuke, "he knew they were innocent, he did this so they wouldn't have to die… that means he also knew that you two were planning this. He shows confidence in us… and he has good reason to" finished Sasuke as he started to crack his knuckles.

"You two are nothing compared to us, yeah" replied Deidara. With that he quickly whipped his hand out of his pouch and a bird made of clay flew out of the mouth in the palm of his hand. Sasuke and Sakura both jumped out of the way as the bird exploded.

Through the flames of the explosion Tobi flew out at Sasuke and flung a spinning kick towards his face. Sasuke, having his Sharingan activated dodged the kick by leaning backwards matrix style. He came back up and launched a punch at Tobi's face. Tobi slipped down and to the right of the punch like a boxer would. Tobi spun and brought his forearm out to crush Sasuke's head with a twisting clothesline. However Sasuke brought his elbow up to parry the attack. He then grabbed the arm he had just parried and flung it over his body, in the process throwing Tobi some 20 feet away. Tobi flipped in the throw and landed on his feet. He turned around and flung some kunai towards Sasuke. Sasuke ran towards Tobi even though he had kunai headed towards his face. He ran with great speed as his arms dangled at his sides (like Zabuza ran towards Gato when he killed him in the show, during the wave mission arc). Sasuke continued to run forward dipping under the kunai that grazed his head. He sped up towards Tobi and right before he reached Tobi he created a Kagebunshin. Still moving with momentum the cloned launched a punch to Tobi's face, which Tobi caught. Sasuke flipped over the Kagebunshin and landed a downward kick (like the one in his Shishi Rendan) to Tobi's face. The mask cracked. And fell to the floor in two separate halves.

Meanwhile Sakura and Deidara stood face to face. "You're going to use those innocent people to your advantage aren't you?" asked Sakura with disgust, "Just like you did to win against Gaara. All you are is a coward!"

"Call me what you like woman, in the end you and all those behind you will die. I'm not stupid; I know you've been training with one of the Sannin. To say that you're a match for me would be quite the underestimation. I KNOW you are powerful. That is why I'm going to blow up everything with my clay. HAHAHA!" laughed Deidara hysterically.

"Won't you kill yourself and your partner?" asked a shocked Sakura.

"Kukukuku… don't you remember the last time we met? I _self-destructed_. Yeah. I'm impervious to the damage produced by my clay. Yeah. My body produces the enzymes, which mold the clay and give it its destructive power. These enzymes are the saliva that comes forth from the mouths on my hands. As far as my partner is concerned, he too is impervious to this clay. Yeah. You don't know how Tobi came to be do you?" chuckled Deidara. "We found him years ago. Yeah. His body was half crushed below a boulder. Sasori-sempai and I rebuilt his body and I used the saliva from these hands to meld the clay, which was used to repair and alter his damaged body. He too cannot die from these explosions. Yeah. In fact Tobi is almost impossible to kill. We had to tie his soul to this world through the same methods which Orochimaru uses his Edo-Tensei. He can't be killed at all. He is very powerful. An undead Uchiha, HAHAHAHAH!" cackled Deidara insanely.

"An U-Uchiha!?" stammered Sakura with disbelief, "you found him crushed under a boulder!?"

Sasuke looked unbelievingly into the face of the ninja once known as Obito Uchiha. Half of his face was human and lit with Sharingan. The other half looked like a living puppet brought to life by the foulest of magic. '_That's how he kept up with me in taijutsu'_ thought Sasuke to himself as he looked into the Sharingan eye of his opponent. Sasuke took this opportunity to fire his arm up with Chidori and plunge it into Tobi's chest. When black blood came out Sasuke thought he'd won. But then came the regeneration.

Tobi jumped back and stood beside Deidara. Sasuke stood beside Sakura. "Yeah, looks like this show is going to go out with a bang! BUWHAHAHAHA" hollered Deidara.

He then started molding a giant blob of clay. Sasuke shouted, "If you think I'm just going to stand here and wait, you're DEAD wrong! I'M WARPING YOUR ASS TO ANOTHER DIMENSION YOU STUPID MOTHER FUCKERS! MANGEKYOU SHARINGAN!!!!"

The air started hum _ZUZUZUZUZUZUZU_ as the rifts were starting to create a portal; however another set of humming noises was heard. Now the portal was closing. Sasuke looked up in disbelief. Tobi had a Mangekyou Sharingan as well and he was countering Sasuke's with it.

"Your eyes won't save you today" spoke Tobi, almost sadly, "mine didn't when I activated them".

"How did you get Mangekyou Sharingan!? Who would ever be your best friend. You're not eve human" screamed Sakura.

"Sasori-san created me. To him I am ever thankful. He also gave me these eyes" chucked Tobi.

"Impossible, you'd have to kill someone important to you to attain those eyes. Chiyo-sama and I killed Sasori" stated Sakura loudly

"You may have killed him, but I rigged his body to that is would malfunction if he were in a battle for too long" laughed Tobi

'_That's right, when Chiyo-sama stabbed him, he didn't move or protect himself. I had always thought he wanted to do die. It turns out he couldn't FUCKING MOVE!!!'_ screamed Sakura to herself in her mind. She then spoke in a disgusting manner, "how could you kill someone who gave you a second chance at life. That's despicable!"

"It was necessary" was all Tobi said before Deidara could be heard shouting.

"PREPARE TO DIE, YEAH!" screamed Deidara. He then pitched the giant mass of clay towards the Konoha nins.

When it exploded the light was unbearable. However the next thing everyone saw was swirling black chakra, which consumed and contained the explosion.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" yelled Deidara.

There rested two figures as the smoke cleared. Their cloaks flapping in the wind while they stood back to back. They wore the symbol of Azura. Ones cloak had green lining. She was clearly a female. The other's cloak had black lining; well you wouldn't be able to tell because the black didn't contrast against the cloak itself. He was a male and he had three swords.

"Darn" cussed Deidara under his breath, "Here come the demon scum, yeah"

"Watch who you call demon scum you piece of trash!" spoke the woman with green hair (if you read chapter three, which I've dubbed the shitty chapter, you'll know that the girl is Narya, and boy is Vasto).

However all seriousness was thrown aside when Vasto turned around and grabbed Narya's bum (p.s. If you watch or know anything about Inuyasha, Vasto is the equivalent of Miroku. He is a nice guy, but a pervert even more daring then Jiraiya).

As he groped Narya's bum he whispered, "did he upset you sweetie"

Narya blushed furiously, but she was also angry. "This is NOT the time!" she growled as she elbowed the top of his head.

Vasto fall to ground in a very anime fashion. He also had anime tears on his face from being elbowed to he head, "b-but Narya-hime, there's never a good time when it comes to you. I've been trying for an entire year! You know what, I think I'm just going to follow up on the requests those fan-girls offered me" he said with a very fake, yet funny pout.

Narya was outraged. She could barley hide her jealousy. "Vasto-BAKA! Your totally HOPELESS!" she screamed in an animated manner.

Then Deidara made the worst mistake of his life. "We're right here. Maybe you want to keep your BITCH on a leash and pay some attention!" he yelled.

In less then one tenth of a second Vasto's face turned from anime goofy to dead serious, "what did you call my Narya-hime!?"

"I called her a B-I-T-C-H" smirked Deidara confidently.

"That was the biggest, and last mistake of your life. I'm going to grind you into dust, and toss you into the wind" he spoke with absolute venom.

Deidara quickly threw exploding clay towards Vasto. Vasto however sprinted towards Deidara and CUT THROUGH THE EXPLOSION. The fire LITERALLY separated as he rushed through it with his katana. He delivered an axe kick to Deidara's face, breaking his nose. As his blood fell to the ground Deidara stood up looking into Vasto's eyes with fear.

"I'm going to finish you quickly, and exactly the way I told you". With that he took out a mask that only covered half of his face (if you watch bleach, try to imagine when the hollow takes over Ichigo. I use this because it is so kick ass). As he put the mask on, he uttered, "When I use my demon chakra, this mask represents my darker side. You will see this darker side now, and it will be the last thing you'll ever see".

Deidara just gulped. Still shocked stiff from the intimidation he felt from Vasto. Vasto then grabbed all three of his blades and tossed then in the air. He yelled "**Kagebunshin no jutsu!**". The tree blades became nine as they fell in a perfect circle around Deidara. Vasto then flared with black chakra as he sped across the circle of blades surrounding Deidara. Each blade emitted dark chakra. As he went back and forth across the circle he'd slash Deidara. Within four seconds he was traveling so fast that all you could see was a black blur moving back and forth at incredible speed delivering thousands upon thousands of slashes to Deidara (if you've seen Final Fantasy: Advent Children this is similar to Cloud's final move which he kills Sephiroth with). Finally Vasto came to a stop right in front of Deidara. Deidara looked up with shocked eyes. It appeared as though nothing happened to him. Vasto then snapped his finger and Deidara's body was engulfed in black flames. Vasto inhaled a great deal of air into his lungs still looking into Deidara's eyes as he stood there burning in black fire. He then blew the air into Deidara's face. What happened next was unreal. Deidara blew away as he dissolved into the wind. He had been cut so many times that his body had been reduced to dust. Vasto just laughed and said "told you so".

Narya, the meantime proceeded to Tobi. Tobi's soul was etched to his body through undead means. Narya's green chakra was a natural "life-giving kind". When Chiyo healed Gaara, she used this kind of chakra. Narya's inner deity contained unbelievable fits of this chakra.

She walked up to a confused Tobi and looked into his pained eyes. This was not what Obito had wanted to become, and how he had to stay this way forever. She went to him and calmly laid her hand on his half-real-half-puppet chest. "Shhh, its okay", she whispered, "I'm here to take the pain away" She infused some of her green life chakra which counteracted the undead nature of the Edo-Tensei. It caused a small explosive reaction but Narya's charka contained it (the reason the explosion was small was because Obito still had consciousness and wanted to die, therefore he gave into Narya). As Obito's soul left his body peacefully, he couldn't help but smile. He ushered Sasuke and Sakura closer to him. "You two, please give this to Kakashi Hatake. It's his father's knife. He gave it to me the day I almost died. I never got to return it. It has something extra engraved in it, just so he'll know that in my subconscious there wasn't a day I didn't think of him, Rin, and Arashi-sensei" Sasuke took the knife while tears rolled down his cheeks. Sakura cried also. They unsheathed the knife and the engravings on the blade read _'**I once told you that Konoha's White Fang, was a true hero. Yet the greatest hero I ever met in my life was my best friend… you. The next generation will always surpass the first. So make sure that they do Kakashi. I'm sorry I can't be there with you in person. But I will see into the future through your eye. And while you watch over the children with your Sharingan, I'll be watching over you with mine. Thank you for the greatest final mission of my life brother. Till I see you on the other side… I'll miss you**_'. The large note on the small blade made Sasuke and Sakura cry hard.

Obito then spoke for the last time before drifting away into the blue yonder, "Arashi-sensei's son looks just like him hehehe" he finished with a chuckle as he looked at the unconscious Naruto.

Right after Obito had passed Naruto and Ino awoke. They had made sure that the innocent Jounins had let the engineer into Hawanagi. Their mission was complete, and seeing as the two Akatsuki were dead, the 1200 Jounins had no reason to fight Naruto, but rather thank him.

As Naruto and Ino headed towards Narya, Vasto, Sasuke, and Sakura he knew he'd be in for a long explanation. "So" he grinned while he rubbed the back of his neck, "what'd we miss?"

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AN: UGH DONE! Damn that chapter was long enough LOL! Anyways I really feel that this chapter was one of the best in the story. I hope you like my OC characters. I also hope they didn't ruin this chapter. UGH remember the "life-natured" chakra Narya had. It'll come up later in the fic in a really unique way, well at least I think so. I dunno how original you guys think I am. I HOPE this chapter quenched your thirst for ACTION. Anyways, READ AND REVIEW! Till my next post SAYANORA!


	12. Flare

AN: Hello everybody, how's it going? Its time for the next update and I'm hoping you'll all like it. I never knew writing this story would be as fun as it has turned out to be… I'm glad I started it, I'm also glad that I've gotten reviews from all of you. Thank you for the kind things you've written. Now on with the story!

(End of Last Chapter)

_Obito then spoke for the last time before drifting away into the blue yonder, "Arashi-sensei's son looks just like him hehehe" he finished with a chuckle as he looked at the unconscious Naruto._

_Right after Obito had passed Naruto and Ino awoke. They had made sure that the innocent Jounins had let the engineer into Hawanagi. Their mission was complete, and seeing as the two Akatsuki were dead, the 1200 Jounins had no reason to fight Naruto, but rather thank him._

_As Naruto and Ino headed towards Narya, Vasto, Sasuke, and Sakura he knew he'd be in for a long explanation. "So" he grinned while he rubbed the back of his neck, "what'd we miss?"_

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"Naruto, it's good to see you again. You didn't miss much. We just fried some Akatsuki is all" spoke Narya with a smile.

"Yeah" continued Vasto, "No sweat reall-WOAH! Hello ladies. How you doin?" asked Vasto referring to Ino and Sakura.

Ino and Sakura had shocked faces as Vasto made his way to them with a smile, "I never got your names. I'm Vasto, the most brilliant of the Azura" he finished with a grin and good guy pose (thumbs up and all). At the mention of his brilliance Naruto coughed. Narya was enraged that he was hitting on some other girls, though she'd never admit it to Vasto.

"I-I'm Sakura, and this is my friend Ino" spoke the pink-haired kunoichi nervously.

"Sakura… where have I heard that name before… AHA! Naruto has mentioned you many times before. I see that you're just as beautiful as he mentioned. I'm sad that he cares for you because that means that I can't sway you with my charm" finished Vasto with a pout.

"I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE YOU BAKA!" yelled Narya as she bonked Vasto on the head.

"But Narya-chan, you don't like me, and yet you never let me hit on any girls. What's your problem? Do you just want me to be alone forever?" he finished, frowning.

"Perverted baka… we'll talk about that later. Anyways, how's the mission going Naruto? We're expecting you back in about a week" inquired Narya brightly, "oh, why don't you have your Azura cloak? Also, where is Gaara? He was sent him after you to watch your progress… we still haven't heard from him yet" she concluded.

"Narya… I'm not going to come back to Iwikagure. I'm going to stay in Konoha. It's my home and I want to be there with the people I care about" spoke Naruto with hurt eyes.

Narya and Vasto's eyes grew wide in shock. Vasto then spoke "you're leaving us… to be with people you care about!? Have we not been a family Naruto? Have we not been there for you during your bad times? When you left because of her (he pointed to Sakura) you came to us, and because of us you became what you are today. Do you really value them over us?" spat Vasto with much discontent.

"I don't want to break the bonds we-" Naruto was interrupted as Narya spoke up "You are breaking these bonds Naruto. Just like how you told us your '_best friend'_ did to you a while back. I would've never thought you'd be a hypocrite Naruto… I guess we were all wrong about you"

Sasuke was enraged that they spoke of Naruto in the way that they did. He growled, "What do you know? You know NOTHING about him. How can you be angry at him for choosing to be with his precious people?"

"Do NOT speak unless spoken to," Vasto chided with a sharp tone, "you are far too weak to command any attention in this matter. Know your place!"

"Do you even know who I am?" retaliated Sasuke, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm not afraid of you"

Narya then laughed, "Is the name Uchiha supposed to frighten us? Hahaha. We have three Uchihas in our organization, and the only other Uchiha out there is not above our level one bit"

"He was pretty good though," added Vasto, "that one from Akatsuki, I could read his chakra signature, he was powerful"

Sasuke's eye twitched from the intense anger he felt "U-Uchiha in Ak-Akatsuki!?" he stammered, "where did you see him?" he whispered with a rage so powerful that it chilled Ino as she looked towards Sasuke in concern.

"Sasuke, calm down… just relax, we'll get through this together," said Ino as she walked behind him and hugged him gently.

What Sasuke did next shocked Naruto and Sakura more then anything they'd ever seen. They fully expected him to rush out of Ino's arms and demand the location of his brother. However, Sasuke fell back into Ino's embrace and did just what she told him. He calmed down and relaxed. He turned around to hug Ino and he whispered to her "you're right, we will get through this together. You, me, Sakura and Naruto"

Naruto and Sakura smiled as they saw this. Then their smiles were cut short as Vasto snickered "you want to defeat the Uchiha in Akatsuki? I can tell right now that he is much stronger then you are"

Sasuke just smirked "that's because I haven't revealed my true power… don't think that Naruto and you guys are the only ones capable of getting stronger. I haven't been sitting around doing nothing you know".

'_He hasn't been revealing his true abilities yet? Heh. Teme we'll see how strong you've truly become when the time comes to face Itachi'_ thought Naruto as he smirked.

Vasto paused a while, then he said, "I'm not really interested in your abilities, nor your quarrel with the other Uchiha. I am only concerned with Naruto" Vasto then faced Naruto and continued, "if you choose to leave Azura, then you know that there will be consequences"

"You would really fight me, or hurt me because I am trying to be with the people I love?" asked Naruto in a hurt voice, "I want to live in Konoha and be Hokage, but I don't want to end our friendship"

Vasto then softened his look "Naruto, it is not I who has a problem with this, by all means I do want you to find your happiness. It is Vegito; he's the one who's going to have a problem with this. He won't let you stay"

Sakura then spoke up, "WHY CAN'T HE JUST LEAVE NARUTO ALONE!!!???" as tears streamed down her eyes she persisted "WHY DOES HE HAVE TO TAKE NARUTO AWAY FROM US… FROM ME!?"

Vasto looked at Sakura with a sad smile, and then back to Naruto, "I envy you Naruto… You really have people that care for you beyond your status as an Azura. I understand why you choose to stay in Konoha… you have a beautiful woman who loves you for who you are. I would give anything to be in your position now" he finished with a sigh.

Narya then looked up at Vasto with the same expression Sakura gave Naruto when he told her that he'd bring Sasuke back for her (if you've watched the anime you know when Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, and Kiba are about to head out, and then Sakura comes and asks Naruto to bring Sasuke back. Well Vasto had the hurt expression Naruto had when he said "Sakura-chan really likes Sasuke" and Narya had the same look in her eyes when Sakura looked at Naruto after he mentioned her love for Sasuke… I hope you all understand what I mean).

As Vasto looked to ground, he felt fingers intertwine with his. As he looked up he saw the face of his green-haired Narya, which he'd always care about. She had tears in her eyes and she whispered to him "j-just because I hit you all the time… it doesn't mean that I don't care… because I do, I care a lot" she then leaned her head on his shoulder whispered again "lets let Naruto have what he wants, and when we get back, I'll let you have what you want" Narya finished with a wink.

Vasto had big, round anime eyes as his nose started to shoot out blood. When he regained his train of though he turned to Naruto and flashed his good guy pose "wherever you decide your true home lies, its all good by me Naruto, we'll still be friends"

Naruto just smiled back "I'm glad to hear it Vasto"

As the Azura duo made their goodbyes Vasto said one last thing "Naruto… Vegito, he'll come for you. He'll go through all of you ANBU to get you, and you know that they won't be able to stop him. I just suggest that you wait at the gates yourself… that way no one will have to lose their life for no reason"

"I know Vasto… you're right" spoke Naruto, "I don't plan on fighting him… he isn't a bad guy after all" Naruto finished with his famous smile. "Take care Vasto, you too Narya"

"Goodbye Naruto, see you around" said Narya with a smile.

Then Vasto cheered with a gleeful smile, "Naruto, I'll be sure to send you the next installment of Icha, Icha… seeing as it comes out in Iwikagure before it comes out in Konoha"

Naruto's eyes brightened up "Jiraiya said this one is all girl on girl actio-" WHAM! Both Naruto and Vasto where sent flying by Narya and Sakura "Men never change!" both girls yelled. Ino just rolled her eyes in agreement. Sasuke took the time make sure his own copy of Icha, Icha was well hidden in his uniform while the women were busy berating Naruto and Vasto.

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Back in Konoha

Gaara and Hinata had just gotten inside the Hyuga mansion. This was the big moment. Hinata was going to tell her father that she was dating Gaara. Gaara had never been so scared in his life. He had taken down the daimyo of an entire nation, yet he couldn't stand to meet the father of his girlfriend.

What baffled Gaara even more was that Hinata looked like she didn't care in the slightest. '_Where the FUCK does she find this confidence'_ Gaara thought to himself.

As they walked in they met Hanabi and Neji. The two were stretching and warming down after their sparring session.

"Hey you two" said Hinata "how's it going?"

"Not bad" smirked Neji, "so you brought lover boy to meet uncle eh"

"Are you going to tell him that you've had sex?" asked Hanabi with wide eyes.

"W-W-WHAT!?" spoke Gaara as his voice cracked for the first time in his entire life, "they know!, how many people know?, oh my lord, you're dad is going to remove my testicles. I got to get out of here" panicked Gaara as he was frantically searching for the quickest exit.

"Easy there" chuckled Hinata softly as she grabbed his sleeve, "I'm a big girl, I'm sure my dad already knows that I understand how things like sex work Gaara. There's no need to panic silly".

"She's lying" chuckled Neji, "run while you still can"

"Hush you" Hinata said as she scolded Neji for worrying her boyfriend.

With that Gaara and Hinata entered the big mansion and headed for the dining room where they were to meet her father. Hiashi Hyuga sat at the head of the table as he motioned for the two of them to take a seat. Hinata sat to Hiashi's right as Gaara sat to his left. As they greeted each other they began to talk as the food was being served.

Hiashi began, "Gaara, you took the Chuunin exams here a while back. I remember you quite well. You were quite the violent one"

Gaara lowered his head in shame at the mentioning of his past. That's when he felt Hinata's hand reach across the table and squeeze his supportively. She then spoke on his behalf, "Father, you do know that he has gone through the same ordeals that Naruto had to go through. He's not the same person he was back then. I don't care if that's not good enough for you… If he's not good enough for you. I… I love him" she drew to a close with a sincere smile.

Gaara just looked up at Hinata with brightest smile he had ever worn in his life. That smile was only made bigger when Hiashi spoke again, "Hinata… I never once said that Gaara was not good enough for me… on the contrary, he was the Kage of the entire wind nation. That doesn't matter anyways. Ever since you left the Hyuga mansion and moved out on your own… I've realized how much I've taken you granted for Hinata. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you, you… you're a lot stronger then I ever was, having to deal with being put down by me all the time. I really am sorry. I want you to be happy, even with your new boyfriend" he finished with a smile.

Hinata looked up in a confused manner, "who are you and what have you done with my dad?" she asked.

Hiashi just snorted "that kid Naruto, he made me change. He made everyone in this village change".

All three in the room nodded in agreement before that munched down on the food in front of them and continued to talk freely and happily with one another.

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Same Day, Later on in the night.

Naruto and Sakura had just gotten in from their mission and were very relieved to be in the comfort of their own home.

Their nerves were a little high after the roller coaster of a mission they had, and the long and trifled reports they had completed (they thought they might as well get them out of the way). They were in a pretty grumpy mood as well. They just wanted to go home and get some rest.

As Naruto walked in he bumped his toe on the edge of his shoe rack. He let out an aggravated growl and Sakura noticed. Being in the stressed mood she was she said "watch were you're going, and do be so loud its 11:30 pm"

Naruto, who was equally aggravated, retaliated "well you're complaining doesn't help the noise level of the room drop you know".

"Excuse me! What did you say?" spoke Sakura as her stress just got heightened even more.

"What do you mean _Excuse me_, did I stutter, is there anything you didn't _understand_ about my last comment?" he snorted back.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me. How dare you think you can talk to me like that? You insensitive prick. All you do is read your porn novels, and make loud noises. All you want to do is fuck and you don't care about other, more important things. Honestly I don't even know why I bother," Sakura continued. She knew that the things she said were half true, but they were both really stressed and neither could control what they said because they were tired from the mission.

"I don't know why you bother either. It's not like you used to care back then, why should now be any different" he muttered with anger, "all it took was for me to get strong and change my entire self just so you could notice me. Old Naruto wasn't good enough," he continued as he entered dangerous territory. One of them was going to cross a line soon.

"Yeah, that's what you think eh? Well guess what, old Naruto and new Naruto have one big thing in common. They are BOTH idiots," she yelled growing even more frustrated, "no wonder I always loved Sasuke over yo-" SLAM! That was the sound of Naruto shutting the bathroom door in a rage (not Kyuubi's rage, but his own).

Sakura just realized what she'd said, and preceded to smack her own forehead. She walked up beside the bathroom door and spoke "Naruto".

No answer.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it… I was just angr-" she was cut off by Naruto as he opened the door and looked her in the face.

He then articulated with great venom in his voice, "every time I look at you… I'm reminded that I'm just second best. It's the most disgusting sight I've ever had to live with. I know that the only reason that you and me are together is because Sasuke chose to leave so long ago. You make me feel like garbage" his face grew even sourer as he spat the lies to Sakura.

That hurt Sakura a lot. All she ever wanted to do for Naruto was make him happy, and now Naruto had just told her that she made him feel like trash. He also told her that the thought of her disgusted him.

As tears flowed down her eyes she whispered (in a deadly tone), "Go get your things and set up the couch, because I don't want you anywhere near me". They both knew it was because of the stress, it happens to all couples. However they had still said some things that hurt way too much for either to admit.

Later on that night Naruto's turns and shifts on the couch could be heard. It wasn't that the couch was uncomfortable, but it was just that his consciousness could not let him sleep. _'How could I say those things to Sakura-chan? I love her… but she hurt me. She knows I don't like it when she mentions Sasuke and how we used to feel when we were younger. She knows it makes me feel like second best… like a replacement"._

Then he felt soft fingers tug at his shoulder. As he turned around he saw a red-eyed Sakura, who had clearly been crying for a while. She spoke to him in the softest whispers "Naruto… please don't hate me. Please, just come back to bed with me. You're not second best Naruto; I love you so much Naruto… so much that even when I'm angry with you, it hurts for me to not have your lie beside me. Please come back to bed with me"

Naruto stood up slowly and wrapped his arms around Sakura, "I lied when I said you're the most disgusting sight I've ever had to live with. Without you I couldn't live. Every time I touch you, I feel like I have everything I want in my life. I could never be second best when I'm with you Sakura-chan. You know I love you"

The two melted into a soft kiss. As they returned to their room they made slow, passionate love and then fell asleep with their naked bodies intwined with one another.

Naruto and Sakura both grew from this experience… they had their first major fight, and they made it through. They also learned the pleasures of makeup sex, and it wouldn't be the last time they used it.

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AN: Sorry for taking so long to update. In this chapter I settled the problem with Hinata's parents. I also tried to make Sasuke more likable. I know most hate him, and I do too. However in this fic, he's a good guy and I'm really trying to get the haters to warm up to him. As for Naruto and Sakura. I wanted them to have a fight so their relationship could seem more authentic. Its not always sunny days and clear skies… everyone has their bad days, Naruto and Sakura are no exception. Anyways read & review. Tell me what you like and what not. Till my next post SAYANORA!


	13. Passion

AN: Hey everyone, sorry if you waited for this one… I wanted to get 150 reviews before I posted chapter 13 lol. I got some complaints that people feel Sakura doesn't show Naruto that she loves him enough… I will take care of that this chapter (hopefully) and introduce the next mission/scenario in the story next chapter. So lets get on with the story.

(End of last chapter)

_Then the felt soft fingers tug at his shoulder. As he turned around he saw a red-eyed Sakura, who had clearly been crying for a while. She spoke to him in the softest whispers "Naruto… please don't hate me. Please, just come back to bed with me. You're not second best Naruto; I love you so much Naruto… so much that even when I'm angry with you, it hurts for me to not have your lie beside me. Please come back to bed with me"_

_Naruto stood up slowly and wrapped his arms around Sakura, "I lied when I said you're the most disgusting sight I've ever had to live with. Without you I couldn't live. Every time I touch you, I feel like I have everything I want in my life. I could never be second best when I'm with you Sakura-chan. You know I love you"_

_The two melted into a soft kiss. As they returned to their room they made slow, passionate love and then fell asleep with their naked bodies beside each other._

_Naruto and Sakura both grew from this experience… they had their first major fight, and they made it through. They also learned the pleasures of makeup sex, and it wouldn't be the last time they used it._

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In the morning

Naruto stirred and looked at his pink-haired lover whom was currently resting on his bare chest. She snored lightly, in a very cute way. Naruto however could not laugh. The fight last night had still hurt. The thought that Sasuke had her heart first bothered him to the core. The fact that the only reason he had Sakura was because Sasuke had left ate him up inside.

He slowly removed himself from her and headed towards the bathroom with nothing but his boxers on. That's when he heard Sakura's voice, "What's wrong?"

He sighed, "nothing… just go back to sleep". He continued walking towards the bathroom without looking back to Sakura.

The pink-haired ninja knew something was wrong, she could feel it in the aura that surrounded Naruto. She carefully continued, "Naruto, you never leave bed before me. Its usually me who has to remove myself from your grip so we can get out of bed and continue on with our day"

"I'm just not feeling that good today is all," muttered Naruto.

"Can we talk about it?" asked Sakura in a concerned voice.

"We already did" he breathed out slowly, "last night"

Sakura looked down and her face scrunched up. Her voice quivered as tears threatened to overtake her "I-It's about the fact that I used to like Sasuke when we were younger… before I fell in love with you Naruto"

He looked down, his back still facing Sakura "Sakura lets just drop it oka-"

"No!" Sakura cut in, "We can't drop it. If this is something that's going to affect our relationship… we have to take care of it"

"Yeah? WHAT IF WE CAN'T TAKE CARE OF IT SAKURA!?" Naruto yelled as Sakura flinched from the sudden outburst of his pent up emotions.

"Why Naruto?" Sakura whispered as she sobbed, "why are you pushing me away when I'm just trying to help you?"

"IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I'M FLIPPING OUT. YOU… YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I COULD NEVER BE THE GREATEST, YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO UNACKNOWLEDGED!" Naruto was crying with tears of anger.

"Why?" she whispered again as she looked into Naruto's angry blue eyes. When Naruto was passionately angry about something his blue eyes were cold and even more intimidating than those of the Kyuubi's. Sakura continued with her sobbing "I just want to make you happy. I just want you to love me"

"You want me to love you huh… Because Sasuke left you when we were younger! Then you came to me after he was gone!" he spat with anger "after all I did for you! You asked me to get him back! You had the audacity to fall in love with me only after Sasuke left! Would it have killed you to love me before Sasuke left. To let me know that I wasn't just some replacement, some **KAWAMARI NO FUCKING JUTSU!**"

Sakura sobbed even harder, "Naruto, that w-was in the past. W-We were so young and i-immature. Can't you let it go? It was five years ago!"

"No, there was the time where we first tried to retrieve him from Orochimaru. I remember that day… you called him Sasuke-kun. I risked my life for you so many times when we were younger and not once did you call me Naruto-kun, NOT ONCE!"

Sakura was now hugging herself as she cried and sniffed, "N-Naruto, you're right… I wa-was so mean to you when we were younger. But I still gave you my first kiss; you're also the only one I've ever kissed on the mouth. I've only ever made love to you too"

He chuckled "yeah, but if Sasuke had decided to listen to Kakashi-sensei. You'd be naked in his arms right now… and I'd never talk to you two again because I'd be slouching around feeling sorry for myself" he paused "he was always first… Sasuke. He was the best in the academy. He had all of your hearts. He had Kakashi's favor over you and I. He had your love. And now that I've finally surpassed him and nullified all hopes of him ever catching up to me… he's still won. He's won through you. I look at you and I feel all the pain I felt before. I remember when we fought Haku and you ran right by me to get to him. Also when the curse seal took him for the first time, you hugged him from behind… you didn't let go even after he was ok. I did everything for you, you did nothing for me" he finished in whispers as though he was talking to himself.

"N-Naruto" Sakura said, no longer crying because she was too shocked from the knowledge that all these things were still haunting him today. These things also made her feel like complete shit. She continued to speak "Naruto… I don't… I don't deserve you do I-"

"No you don't," he said just as Sakura finished talking. "In fact, I'm starting to regret being with you right now. You've never made me truly feel like I was the best in your heart. The biggest mistake I ever made was overlooking Hinata's feelings, just because I cared for you. She acknowledged me, and she got rejected the same way I did. I hurt her because I loved you. But look how she's turned out… she's magnificent, beautiful and powerful. Gaara lucked out because I was too blind to see it." Naruto lied. Then he thought to himself, '_no matter how strong or beautiful Hinata gets… Sakura-chan will always be the one in my heart. But she has to understand the pain I feel when I look into her eyes'_.

Those words hurt Sakura more then anything she'd ever experienced. She also knew she had no right to get angry… She knew everything he said was true. Now she also got a taste of how it felt to be overshadowed. Naruto had just practically told her that he wished he were with Hinata instead of her, that he was more impressed and pleased with how Hinata had turned out instead of her. She began thinking to herself '_So what if she's tied with Neji for being the strongest Hyuga in Konoha history? I've surpassed Tsunade and she was a Sannin. It's just because she has that bloodline limit' _then Sakura realized, _'oh my god! That's how Naruto has felt towards Sasuke during this whole time. I made it worse and worse for him everyday. He still showed me love and concern… he was always there for me. But what if he breaks up with me now? If he leaves me…I don't know what I'll do. I can't live without him. Why doesn't he understand that he does hold first place in my heart'_.

"Naruto" Sakura spoke very nervously as the tears returned, "Naruto, please I don't know what to say, but Naruto… I love you so much more then I could ever love Sasuke. Please believe me"

"I have to go" Naruto simply stated, "I'll be back later"

"N-Naruto, don't leave, DON'T BREAK UP WITH ME NARUTO!" she screamed. However the door closing, with a loud slam, silenced her scream.

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At Kakashi's apartment.

Kakashi had just finished showering and had placed his forehead protector over his Sharingan eye. He had a simple black t-shirt on. It was a couple of sizes to big for him, but it was comfortable so he'd wear it at home. He also had some black shorts on. He walked around barefoot. His mask was with his ninja gear somewhere in his closet. The floor tiles felt cold under his bare feet as he walked to the fridge to get an apple. He was interrupted by the knock on the door. He walked up to the door and looked through the peephole. He saw an angry-looking Naruto on the other side.

"Yo Naruto" Kakashi greeted as he opened the door, "what brings you over?"

"Someone left me a final request and it involves me giving you something," said Naruto

"Interesting" responded Kakashi, "but before you give me whatever it is that you have to give me… why are you in such an angry mood?"

"Sakura and I had a fight. Things don't look so good" Naruto mumbled.

"Oh" answered Kakashi

"Yeah, I'm mad because the only reason we're together is because of Sasuke's betrayal. It makes me feel pathetic She never had feelings for me when we were younger, and then Sasuke left and she rebounded on me. Her feelings were never real and now we've bonded because Sasuke ditched us. It like Sasuke determined that Sakura would fall for me, like I had no say in it" finished Naruto bitterly.

"Hehehe" chuckled Kakashi with painful emotions present all over his face. He then began to speak again. "Naruto… Sakura, she was young back then. She probably didn't know what she wanted"

"Kakashi, no offence… but what do you know? You were like Sasuke back then. Women loved you just like they loved him" retorted Naruto.

Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, let me tell you about my friends Rin and Obito. Rin was much like Sakura, she was smart, pretty, and a great medic. She also had a huge crush on me. Obito, he was an Uchiha. He was much like you Naruto. He was goofy, and silly. He also cared for his friends greatly. He loved Rin, like you love Sakura. Rin was too busy following me around to notice, but Obito he just continued to make Rin laugh and keep her happy. Then…"

Kakashi sighed as a tear dropped from his eye and rolled down his mask-less face, "Then Obito died. He died saving Rin on a mission where she was captured. He convinced me to save her, and he threw away his life for the both of us. He made me promise to take care of Rin, to love her like she would never love him… After Obito's death Rin didn't talked to me for a while. When I did meet her, I saw her at the shinobi gravestone crying. When I asked her why she wouldn't talk to me she responded **'you're the reason I never realized my true love. Obito loved me, and I was too blind to see it because I thought you were what I wanted. How wrong I was. You could never replace Obito'** and after that she ran away from Konoha… and I've never seen her again"

"Wow" said Naruto surprised, "I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei"

"Don't be Naruto" Kakashi said with a forced smile, "just use this example to understand that Sakura did acknowledge your presence"

"I can't remember when that happened" Naruto spoke back softly

Then Kakashi smiled again, "that's because you weren't there. You were training with Jiraiya. Naruto I could see it in Sakura's face all along. When Sasuke left, you still made her laugh. You still allowed her to be cheerful. When you left… Sakura was quiet and sad. She focused so much on work to rid her mind of the painful fact that you weren't there to brighten her life. At one point she even had an eating disorder Naruto. Tusnade told me about these things… I'm not just making it up. She realized how important you were to her after you left. That's why when you came back, she warmed up to you and if I'm not wrong it was her who started things off in your relationship no?"

Naruto blushed a little, "yes Kakashi-sensei. She made the first move"

"So then Naruto, I don't know why you're complaining. Sakura didn't give up on Sasuke, or else she still wouldn't have tried to save him. She merely realized that you were worth more to her then Sasuke… and you will always be more important t her then anyone else… Sasuke included" Kakashi beamed. "Just don't make the same mistakes I did Naruto… Live your life and protect your friends. Obito probably hates me now because I couldn't save him, or protect Rin"

"Kakashi-sensei" Naruto looked at him with a warm smile. Then he hugged him. When he pulled back he spoke again "I don't think that Obito hates you at all Kakashi-sensei"

"Wha-" spoke Kakashi, but then he was interrupted as Naruto handed him his father's knife in its sheath. "Where did you get this Naruto!?" he stammered.

"Obito… he found a way to make sure that you'd get this message… he doesn't hate you at all Kakashi" Naruto said. He decided not to tell Kakashi about Obito's roll in Akatsuki. He didn't think Kakashi needed that right now.

"Thank you Naruto" Kakashi cried, as he began reading the message engraved on the White Fang's blade.

'_No… It's you I should be thanking Kakashi. You helped me realize that Sakura really does love me, and that I really love her too'._

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(Back at Naruto's apartment)

Naruto unlocked the door and walked in.

"Sakura" he called. He paused before calling again a little louder "Sakura!"

He then walked into the living room and saw a small white note on the table

On the note was written

Reasons why Naruto Uzumaki is first in my heart

_He loved me when Sasuke didn't He's saved my life many times _

_He's made me feel beautiful everyday of my life because he constantly asked me out._

_He's helped me grow stronger as a ninja and as a women, with inspiration unmatched by anyone else on this planet_

_He nibbles on my ear when he's playful_

_He kisses my neck when he's lustful_

_He tells me he loves me all the time_

_He's my shoulder to lean on when I cry_

_He's made me laugh when I thought I had no happiness left_

_I gave him my first kiss_

_I gave him my virginity_

_He was willing to give his happiness away for me; I am willing to do the same for him_

_Naruto Uzumaki…I love you even if you won't love me back_

_P.S. I'm sorry it had to end like this. I can't blame you for not loving me anymore… I've treated you so horribly. However I do want you to know that you could never be second best Naruto. When Sasuke left… I could cope, when you left… I almost lost myself to the grief. If you'd like I can help you find someone who would make you truly happy. As much as it would hurt me… It would be the least I could do to make you happy, because I still love you with all my heart._

_-Sakura Haruno (though I wish I could've been Sakura Uzumaki)_

Naruto held the paper to his heart as he cried. Then he spoke to himself in between the sobs "N-NO! I am NOT letting you get away… I need you. I love you Sakura".

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Naruto spent the rest of the day look for Sakura until nightfall. Then he came to the last place on the list he could check… her parents' house.

Naruto knocked on the door and was answered by Mrs. Haruno. She saw the tears on his eyes and smiled softly, "it's about time you got here Naruto… Sakura is upstairs in her room. You can go talk to her. I don't know what happened, but you go upstairs and fix my daughter… she loves you Naruto"

Naruto just nodded and walked into the house. He waved to Mr. Haruno (who waved back) before he ascended the stairs to Sakura's room. When he got to the door he knocked.

"Leave me alone mom, I told you I don't want to talk about it!" he heard Sakura yell. It was obvious she was still crying.

Naruto pushed some chakra through the knob of the door and unlocked it (I don't know if there is an actual jutsu that does that, but for the sake of the story lets just say there is). He then walked in slowly as he opened the door.

Sakura just looked up at him with wide shocked eyes. Then she looked down. She was sitting on her bed with her need wrapped in her arms. Her forehead was now on her knees, as she couldn't look at Naruto.

"Hey" Naruto said softly.

"Hey" Sakura responded. Then she muttered "I guess th-this is g-goodbye"

"Not on your life" chuckled Naruto, "you can't get rid of me that easily"

Naruto then went and sat on the bed. He spread his legs so that Sakura sat in between them, with her back leaning against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear "You know… I'm a real mess without you."

Sakura chucked, "you know I won't come back to you, if I'm second best to Hinata… I have the right to be jealous too you know"

"You don't have to worry about that" Naruto said, "You were never second best to Hinata. I love you with all my heart and you've become a powerful kunoichi, one that I'm very, VERY proud of. You'll always be first for me"

"Oh yeah?" questioned Sakura with a smirk, "prove it"

"Hmm" hummed Naruto as he propped his chin down on Sakura's head, "Reasons why Sakura Haruno is first in my heart. She's very smart and extremely beautiful. She never gives up on her friends. She agrees to come and eat ramen with me, even though she hates it. She smacks and keeps me down to earth when I step out of line. She lets me nibble on her ears when I'm playful, or kiss her neck when I feel lust. She gave me her first kiss, and handed herself to me and only me. She looks after me when I'm sick and tickles me when I'm in bed. She tells me she loves me and she's willing to throw her happiness away for me" he then paused and chuckled "P.S. Sakura I don't need you to help me find a girl that'll truly make me happy, because the girl of my dreams in resting in my arms as I speak"

Sakura was crying hard now, but these tears were of utmost joy. "Naruto, I want to be the mother of your children… you don't mind do you?" she asked rhetorically, with a chuckle as she leaned back and placed her head on his shoulder, and at the same time was starting to lick his neck gently.

"Heh. I'll have to think about it-OOHHFF" he grunted as Sakura playfully elbowed his abdomen. Then he spoke again "Sakura I've wanted you to be the mother of my children since I was 13 years old" he finished as he gave into Sakura slow kisses while he groaned lightly.

"Good" she muffled into his mouth "because I love you"

With that Naruto got up and picked Sakura up too. He held her with one arm as he flashed through some seals; before they flashed away Naruto yelled, "I'm taking Sakura home Mrs. Haruno" just so she wouldn't worry about her daughter.

When yellow light subsided they found themselves in their master bedroom. "I have to take a shower Naruto" said Sakura calmly. Naruto looked at her. Her eyes were pink from crying all day. Her hair was messy because she'd been pulling at it out of grief. She looked like a mess, but Naruto couldn't help but think, _'Oh god… she's so beautiful. She loves me… she really, really loves me. I couldn't be Hokage without you Sakura… you're the real reason I came back to Konoha. I grew powerful so you could acknowledge, but you game me so much more then just acknowledgement. I love you so much.'_

Naruto sat on the bed as Sakura undressed in front of him; due to the fact that she was about to go take a shower. Naruto just sat on the bed; he knew Sakura was tired from the day's dramatic ordeals and he didn't want to force her to make love if she didn't feel like it.

However Naruto was surprised when Sakura walked up to him, naked as she was, and started to lift his shirt up and off of his body. He complied without resistance. She then worked off his pants and his boxers till Naruto was buck-naked as well. After this Sakura laced her index and middle finger around Naruto's index and middle fingers (you know the picture of young Naruto and young Sasuke holding hands… it happens when it shows the white light after the Rasengan and Chidori clash and cause the huge explosion. Imagine Sakura holding Naruto's hand that way). Sakura then tugged on Naruto's and guided him to bathroom. Naruto followed eagerly.

As they got in the bathroom Sakura and Naruto stepped in the shower and turned the water on. As the water gently sprinkled over their tired bodies Sakura picked up a scrunchie and a bottle of body wash. She handed it to Naruto and simply said, "Wash me". Naruto thought Sakura was probably tired and she'd rather have Naruto wash her then do it herself. This she could get clean and be closer to Naruto, '_she's probably not in the mood for sex'_ contemplated Naruto himself. He then began to lather Sakura's divine body, earning a couple of moans from her, '_she's making it hard to resist'_ thought Naruto to himself again.

Sakura then leaned back into Naruto as she felt his rock hard chest press against her back and support her body weight. Upon doing this she snaked her hand up and grabbed Naruto by the back of the neck. She brought his head down and stole his lips in a fierce kiss. She wasn't discrete or soft; she rammed her tongue into his mouth and started licking everywhere she could. She wrestled Naruto's tongue for a long time and eventually she won as Naruto was in such a great state of bliss that he couldn't resist her and just followed her rhythm. Sakura then let Naruto's tongue travel into her mouth and started to suckle on it lightly. She held Naruto tongue softly in between her teeth and continued to lick it viciously.

As they kissed Naruto snaked his up to Sakura's breasts and proceeded to pinch and pull on her nipples. He couldn't help but get hard as his manhood grew firm and rested along the center of Sakura's bum, in between the cheeks. Naruto then moved his right hand down between Sakura's thighs, while his left still stayed on her breast. He began to play with Sakura's clitoris, slowly stroking it in nice circular motion. He loved that Sakura had no hair in that area whatsoever. As the moans and whines grew Naruto inserted his middle finger down Sakura tight opening. He ran his finger up and down her walls slowly before plunging further into her core. Then he inserted his second finger. He kept his thumb at her clitoris and made a light pinching motion applying some pressure between his thumb and his fingers. The flesh that was in between grew wet and as Naruto started to increase his tempo he could feel the love juices flowing from Sakura as she screamed in ecstasy.

After Sakura had her orgasm, she turned around bent down on her knees. Naruto protested (because he felt bad due to what happened today) "Sakura you don't have t-"

"Shhhh, I want to do this Naruto" Sakura said as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist. She never used her hands when it came to orally pleasing Naruto. Naruto loved that. She kissed up along the sides of Naruto's shaft slowly. Then she went back down and kissed up along the middle till she got to the top. There she gave the head a little kiss and smirked before she opened her mouth and took it in. She made a slurping sound as she bobbed her head up and down slowly. The sounds she made drove Naruto insane, but he'd never grab Sakura's head and force her he just stood there and let it happen. Sakura continued her sucking and the pulled her head back. As she pulled of she continued to suck so that when Naruto's member came out of her mouth it made a 'POP' sound. That caused Naruto to chuckle, however his laughing was cut short and replaced with a surprised attitude when he found out that Sakura was not done yet. Sakura stuck her tongue out and ran around the head of Naruto's manliness. She then proceeded to take it in her mouth again and this time she took almost his entire length in her mouth. In fact she felt Naruto's member poke at the back of her throat. As she continued to slurp and suck Naruto felt his member tense up and he knew it was almost time. "Sakura, I-I'm going t-to", "mhhmm" was all Sakura answered as she continued to suck. Naruto then spilled in her mouth and was surprised when he saw that Sakura was swallowing it all. "Oh my god" he shuttered out of pure pleasure.

As Sakura stood up Naruto pushed her back against the wall of the shower. He lifted one of her legs over his should as the other on was on the ground. Sakura's flexibility was a blessing indeed. He started to insert himself into her at a hard pace. He could hear Sakura shiver with delight. He continued you the tempo as Sakura started to grind along with the thrusts. Then Naruto picked up Sakura's other leg and put it over his other shoulder. Now Sakura had two legs over Naruto's shoulders and her back was pressed against the wall. Naruto still pushing himself into her. "Oh Naruto, I've never been fucked like this before… keep fucking me harder, harder NARUTO!". Naruto gave it harder and harder.

He put Sakura down and flipped her to the other side as her chest was pressed up against the wall and he was making love to her from behind. The slapping sounds of his thighs rocking into her bum could be heard outside of the bathroom. The screams were loud and Naruto's grunts were almost angry. For the second time both lovers reached their limit and orgasmed with each other. Their love juices mixing and commingling.

After finishing off in the shower Naruto and Sakura sat on their bed. That's when Sakura had and angry look on her face, "NARUTO! I don't remember giving you permission to make love to me from behind!"

"Hehe" chuckled Naruto while rubbing the back of his neck.

Sakura may not have thought it was proper, but it wasn't the last time it happened.

That aside the two lovers snuggled in each other's embrace. Finally having no more worries or insecurities threatening their relationship.

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AN: And there was chapter 13. Naruto fans I really, honestly tried to show you that Sakura truly loves Naruto… If you don't think that's enough, I'm sorry I can't do better. Anyways please Read and Review. This chapter was strictly a NaruSaku and it was made for all the NaruSaku lovers… I hope I did you justice. Till my next post (I'm hoping to get about170 reviews before I update again) SAYANORA!


	14. Informed

AN: Hey everyone. Thank you for all the reviews and I'm sorry that I've been much to busy to update. I am also considering cutting this story short. Like I will finish it and give all the characters closure but I don't know if I want to make this story as long as I had originally planned. I'm still debating it in my mind. Anyways for now, hopefully you'll enjoy the latest installment

(End of last chapter)

_After finishing off in the shower Naruto and Sakura sat on their bed. That's when Sakura had and angry look on her face, "NARUTO! I don't remember giving you permission to make love to me from behind!"_

"_Hehe" chuckled Naruto while rubbing the back of his neck._

_Sakura may not have thought it was proper, but it wasn't the last time it happened._

_That aside the two lovers snuggled in each other's embrace. Finally having no more worries or insecurities threatening their relationship._

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It was early in the morning and Naruto awoke with great seriousness. His blood ran cold as a shiver crawled down his spine. He crept out of bed slowly so he would not wake Sakura up. He turned to look at her snore cutely '_god you're so fucking beautiful'_ he thought.

He went to his closet and extracted his Azura cloak. He put it on warily for he knew that this morning was going to be complicated, if not dangerous. He slung the cloak over his shoulders and Hiraishined out of his nice apartment. Right before he left he whispered quietly enough so that Sakura wouldn't wake "I'll be back Sakura. They can't make me leave you"

In an instant he was on the street walking towards the big gates of Konoha. As he walked through the city district he found Gaara sitting on the swing outside of the academy. He too was in his Azura cloak.

"I was waiting for you" spoke the red-haired demon vessel. "I knew I'd find you up and about now".

Naruto turned to Gaara looking hard because it was still too early for the sun to be seen.

"They're here. They're waiting outside of the gate"

Gaara nodded in silent agreement, "it has been two months you know. I guess time flies when… you're in love" Gaara had trouble finishing the sentence, the concept of love still new to him. However he could not deny or lie to himself, he loved Hinata dearly. Naruto helped pull Gaara out of his insanity, Hinata helped pull him out of his loneliness, which was what caused his insanity in the first place.

"Yeah" laughed Naruto softly, "love does manage to speed the up clock no?"

"Lets get going" said Gaara, "we can't keep them waiting for too long"

"Yeah" was all that Naruto said.

The two Azura members stepped up to the giant gates and in front of the city they'd grown to love. They saw the Jounins that were on guard and told them to step aside. The Jounins knew better then to argue with Naruto and Gaara. They were legends in the ninja world, even the name Sannin held no light to the name Azura, more importantly to the term _Jinchuuriki_.

As Naruto stepped out in front of the gates, the crisp snow making a crushing sound under his boots, he paused. He turned around to look at the four Jounin that had followed him. "It'd be wise if you were to stay inside of Konoha… for your own safety".

One Jounin answered "No Uzumaki-san, it is our duty, as well as yours, to make sure that our city is guarded"

"Suit your self" answered Gaara in his old monotone voice "we're about to meet some dangerous people".

Right after Gaara finished his sentence snow started to swirl fiercely as the wind howled blowing both Gaara and Naruto's hoods off. The Jounins shivered in the cold as Naruto and Gaara just narrowed their eyes and stood still, like stone, in the face of the vicious wind brushing past their faces and causing their hair to waver in motion as it would flow by the two Jinchuuriki.

In the distance, barley visible, Naruto made out two clocked figures slowly walking towards them. As they got closer the signatures of their chakra grew larger and larger.

"Their power is unbelievable" muttered one of the Jounins in absolute fear.

"Are they human?" asked another

"Just as human as Naruto and I are" chuckled Gaara in spite of himself

When the two cloaked figures arrived, their Azura uniforms were easily distinguished. One had navy blue lining, and the other had dark, purple lining.

As the two sets of Azura members stared each other down, the snow itself halted. The two foreign shinobi removed their hoods and let their long and full hair cascade down to their shoulders.

"THEY'RE JUST WOMEN!" shouted one Jounin incredibly.

"Watch your tongue. You don't know whom you speak of!" spoke Naruto in a vicious tone to the ignorant Jounin.

"In fact" continued Gaara, "I suggest you retreat to Konoha before you say some more stupid things and end up losing your life in the process".

The four Jounins listened to Gaara and retreated back within the borders of Konoha.

Naruto and Gaara now turned their attention to the two Azura members.

"I didn't think that you two would be here" spoke Naruto calmly "I was expecting Vegito".

"He's caught up on an important assignment at the moment" spoke the first woman. Her dark blue hair blowing gently in the soft winds that began to stir once again.

"So he sent Kiara and myself to get the story straight from you Naruto. You as well Gaara" finished the second woman as her bright blonde hair waved in a similar manner.

"Wouldn't know how to explain it to you Yugito" sighed Naruto, "Gaara and I, we can't leave this place. It's our home"

Kiara then spoke "Vasto and Narya already informed us about your decision; we're just here to… change your mind"

Naruto sighed once again as he looked at Kiara. She looked exactly like Princess Koyuki, whom he'd saved in Snow country when he was younger; except Kiara had even more radiance and beauty. However in Naruto's mind Sakura was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman in the world.

"I… we're sorry Kiara. We can't come back; the people here are the most important people in our lives. They're the people we love…" finished Naruto with a frown

"And what do you have to say about this Gaara?" asked Yugito in a demanding way.

"All I have to say is that I've found someone whom I can't go to sleep without. Taking her away from me would be worse then returning control of my mind back into the hands of my inner demon" stated Gaara in a very sharp tone.

Both Kiara and Yugito frowned.

"You really love her… don't you Naruto" exclaimed Kiara, "she broke your heart a year ago and you still found it in you to love her again. To care about her even more then you care about us"

"I-It isn't like that. Sakura… she never broke my heart intentionally, it was just bad timing on my part and choosing to assume the worst when I saw the situation" Naruto held his forehead as though he was frustrated, "if she had intentionally broken my heart, I wouldn't have come back to her. I came back because she loves me as much as I love her. She told me once that'd she'd throw away her life to be with me for an extra five minutes when we were facing Kakuzu. That's when Gaara came into the picture. And Kiara-chan you know Gaara and I love all you like family, we really do"

Then Yugito spoke up "ok I can see why Naruto stayed, but you Gaara, why are you staying? You lived in Suna and threw away your Kazekage status to become part of Azura. What makes Konoha more important then being Kazekage, more important then your fellow Jinchuuriki?"

"She does" was Gaara's response, "I felt a bond when I was in Azura. One that I'm very grateful for and value very highly… but what I feel when I'm with her… I just can't lose that feeling. I'd throw away anything for her, my own life included. Naruto told me to fight for the people I cared for, and I did against Deidara; but no one ever inspired me to protect the things I cherish as much as she has… and that's because I cherish her above all things"

Yugito was speechless "I-I'm so sorry, but we can't-"

"Let them be" interrupted Kiara with a sad look on her face while almost coming to tears, "I'm happy for you Naruto, and you as well Gaara. I hope the love you find holds you over for the rest of your lives"

As Kiara finished speaking she turned around to hide any weakness, because even though they were sent to force Naruto and Gaara back (and the two women were on par with Naruto and Gaara's ability for they to were Jinchuuriki) she couldn't bear to fight, or possibly hurt them. The Azura were like family they knew each others pain so well that they could relate to each other on an intimate level. She knew how much she sought to be loved and she couldn't take what she knew to be such a great feeling away from two men who were as brothers to her.

Naruto frowned for he knew why Kiara was sad. It was no secret that Kiara was in love with Vegito. They'd known each other longer then Naruto had known Sakura. They, along with Raiden had been through so much together that them bonding was inevitable. However, Vegito wouldn't allow himself to return Kiara's feelings. He didn't shun her like Sasuke used to shun Sakura, he gave her compliments and was always there for her, but when things got personal and when it was just Vegito and herself he'd always push her away because he could look into the memories of his father, the Yondaime Dakukage, and feel the pain his father felt when his wife (Vegito's mother) passed away. That was

why he never allowed himself to get close when it came to love.

Thinking of this made Naruto even more depressed. He knew that conflict with Vegito was inevitable. He didn't want to fight Vegito; this wasn't due to fear, because Naruto Uzumaki feared no man (he feared Sakura some times, but no **man** none the less). He didn't want to fight Vegito because Vegito was a very good friend. He would get catatonic when it came to love, but when it came to friendship, he was as good a friend as you could get. Naruto looked back into his memories and recalled times he had with Azura.

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Flash back 14 months ago

_Naruto had just Hiraishined himself to Iwikagure and was now looking around. He was on a beach. It was a little chilly, yet the weather was much milder then in Konoha. There wasn't any snow during winter here. He credited that to the fact that they were near a large body of water, mainly the ocean, and that would keep weather conditions milder all year round. Anyone who thought Naruto to be an idiot was sadly mistaken for he knew his shit._

_He got up with his backpack full of his stuff (though the few valuables and thousands of Ramen packets were sealed in scrolls so they'd be easier to carry round). Then he was brutally interrupted by the cruel and remorseless taunting of the Kyuubi. _

'_**HAHAHA FOOL! YOU HAVE NO WHERE TO GO ANYMORE. THE ONES IN YOUR PATHETIC, PUTRID VILLAGE HATE YOU. EVEN THE PINK-HAIRED WHORE YOU LOVE TURNED HER BACK ON YOU. AND SO YOU ARE CURSED BY YOUR FUCKING FATHER WHO DARED SEAL ME IN YOUR INSIGNIFIGANT SELF'**, howled the Kyuubi deep within Naruto's mind. _

"_SHUT UP, WHY WON'T YOU EVER SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU OVER-SIZED URBAN RAT!" yelled Naruto out loud for a long time. There was no one there for it was about 5 in the morning on a dark beach in Iwikagure. He yelled with his hearts content because he was hurt, frustrated and just needed to let go for his sanity's sake_

"_It gets pretty hard when the tenant bothers you all the time doesn't it?" spoke a voice which Naruto could not recognize._

_Naruto turned in the direction of the voice_ _and looked at him. The sun was just creeping up so his face became visible. He had dark black hair that gave of a red tint when the sunlight hit it. His hair was spiky but in a neat sort of way (his hair was shaped in the exact same way as Hitsugaya Tōshirō, from Bleach, except as mentioned above, it was a different color). His eyes where black, except the outline of his pupil was grey, almost silver in color. The bags under his eyes where half as long as Itachi's, but they didn't make him look cold or evil. In fact his face looked friendly and in a weird way this boy seemed to understand Naruto perfectly._

"_W-what did you say?" asked Naruto in a bewildered tone 'does he know about Kyuubi? FUCK! I wanted to get away from people who knew about the damn demon' he thought to himself._

"_I said that it isn't easy when it always threatens you, or reminds you that it will always be there. When it speaks of how alone you are. I don't know you very well, but I promise you that you aren't alone" spoke the mysterious raven-haired boy._

_Naruto looked at him once again. The foreign teenager had a very strong presence, yet he could feel something else lurking within him. He felt a link between his inner turmoil and that of this boy._

"_You're like me aren't you?" questioned Naruto_

"_Well I don't know, I think my hair looks a little cooler then yours, and I'm not really into the whole orange thing, but hey, to each his own right?" joked the teen in spite of the situation._

_Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, "if you think this is bad, you should meet my friend Lee. He's got the whole green spandex thing going, and I'm not even going to start talking about his hair"_

_Both boys started laughing hysterically at poor Lee's expense._

"_Vegito! Where the fuck did you go?" spoke another foreign voice. This voice had a more serious edge to it, "Kiara is going nuts! Why do you always gotta pull this shit by getting up at 5 in the fucking morning?"_

"_Actually its 6 now I think Raiden" answered the boy whose name Naruto figured to be Vegito._

_The so-called Raiden found his way over to Vegito and Naruto as he heard the response._

_Raiden reminded Naruto of Sasuke. He had a very "Uchiha" kind of look. His hair was spiked and he had bangs falling over his forehead protector. (His hair is a mix between partially Vegeta's DBZ for the way it's spiked up though hot to that extreme extent and partially Sasuke for the way the bangs hang over his forehead protector)_

_His hair was colored Blonde (it looked almost dark yellow google it, the first one that comes up is the color) and in between every spike there was black hair (his hair resembles Zapdos' wings). His eyes were black as night. The same onyx tone that Sasuke's were. He however also seemed to be a good guy. A little more broody then Vegito yet his eyes where sincere ones._

"_Who's your friend?" asked Raiden_

"_Uhhmm" Vegito chimed "never got your name, how rude of me"_

"_Naruto" was all said Blonde spoke._

"_Well Naruto it's nice to meet you?" spoke the Raven-haired boy "I'm Vegito, and my friend with the pineapple up his ass is Raiden"_

"_Asshole" responded the irritated Raiden, "don't mind the douche bag" Raiden told Naruto as he sighed._

"_Ah you know I'm kidding" laughed Vegito; "by the way, he's one of us" he finished in a serious tone._

"_Wow!" exclaimed Raiden in a rare slip of his cool collected self, "you're right I could feel the presence inside of him"_

"_Whew I thought that was just me" said Naruto "there seems to be some link between us eh"_

"_Yeah there is" answered Raiden. _

"_Where do you live?" asked Vegito_

_Naruto then began to inform the two of his situation and why he left. He didn't care that they'd just met, he felt as though he'd known these guys all his life._

"_Well you can stay with us, I don't think Kiara would mind" pondered Vegito._

"_Are you sure?" asked Naruto, "We just met"_

"_Hey you're a Jinchuuriki like us. I know how it feels to be lonely. And as long as you know Raiden, myself, and eventually Kiara; you'll never feel lonely again"_

_And so Naruto moved in with Vegito, Raiden, and Kiara. Though this was to Kiara's discontent, another male in the home wasn't going to be a good thing._

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_6 months later_

_Azura had formed itself and they were comfortable with each other. The day was sunny and the temperature warm at noon. Summer was amazing in Iwikagure._

_The 10 members of the group were on the beach enjoying the warm sun._

_Narya had let Vasto run lotion on her exposed back after he begged for about an hour. However he was sent flying into the water after his hands wandered from her back to her ass._

_Shujinko was playing Shogi with Kai on the beach while Yugito was commentating, much to Kai's anger because he was losing and Yugito held no blows when describing his bad choice of moves._

_Raiden had fallen asleep which lead to him being put under sand and resembling Kakashi's decapitation technique he'd used on Naruto during his first bell test._

_Naruto, Vegito and Kiara were building a sand castle. It looked pretty good and they were satisfied with it until Gaara spoke up._

"_Nice castle" he snickered. _

_Vegito, Naruto and Kiara turned to look at him. They then put on the biggest anime-style shocked face ever, with the big white eyes and the anime sweat drop down the side of their face. The reason was that Gaara was sitting in his own GIANT SANDCASTLE. It was actually the size of a real CASTLE. The on difference being that Gaara's throne was at the top so everyone could see him. He sat with one leg crossed over the other. He had a smug smirk on and was even wearing a crown made of sand which lay tilted on his head._

_However the next thing he knew Gaara was being washed away by a giant water jutsu done by Kiara, which also destroyed his magnificent castle._

"_**SHANNARO!" **Kiara yelled as she formed the thumbs up sign._

_Everyone started laughing, even Gaara. Then the laughing stopped. _

"_Oh god you guys HELP!" screamed Kiara_

_She was bent over Vasto and she was giving him mouth to mouth. He seemed very still_

"_What happened?" asked Kai_

"_I punched him into the water for caressing my bum. He must've passed so I went in looking r him and I found him not moving" she said in between breaths while continuously pressing her lips to his and giving him mouth to mouth. "I've been doing this for 5 minutes and he still hasn't come to!"_

_She continued to breath into his mouth. Everyone was serious, and then Naruto laughed but not out load for he looked down at Vasto and realized that Vasto had also made the thumbs up sign while he was receiving CPR. Narya didn't notice and kept pressing her mouth to his. _

_The rest of the group saw this and couldn't help but start laughing. Vasto was faking for the sake of his life, because when Narya found out he'd get beat so bad he'd wish he had died._

_End Flash back_

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Naruto laughed at the memories. He really loved his friends in Azura. He would find a way to make sure that they remained a part of his life as much as Sakura did.

"Naruto, Gaara" spoke Yugito "There is something else more serious I have to inform you of. It's the reason that Vegito sent us instead of coming himself"

"What is it?" responded Naruto.

"Vegito informed us of a rising army. A conflict greater then the two shinobi wars put together is on its way. It is being controlled by Akatsuki. They were created by the slaves that Orochimaru had. They've all gone into their level two curse seals and are permanently stuck that way. They wear the suits of the immortals (if you've seen the movie 300, they're dressed like the immortals in that film, the black ninja suits along with the silver armor). Their army is monstrous"

"How monstrous?" asked Gaara.

"Vegito said they number 500 thousand. And they plan to attack in three months" said Kiara calmly

"Impossible" chided Naruto. "First of all, how did they stay out of politics and the media? Surely there would be news among the councils of the Elemental countries. Secondly, how did they grow to be that big, that population is large enough to its own country? Konoha doesn't even have one thousand ninja"

"To answer your second question, we can thank Orochimaru and Zetsu for the number of their army. Zetsu is like a plant, and plants reproduce pollen on a mass scale. Orochimaru experimented with his DNA and found a way to reproduce Curse Seal clones at a mass rate though there were no more resources to go above 500 thousand. That was the benefit of Orochimaru rejoining for Akatsuki. They literally have a monopoly over all of war" spoke Kiara. "And now to answer as to how they've stayed hidden. They've been in fire country all along. In the south west quadrant. They haven't even been bothered at all"

Gaara responded furiously "There is an ANBU division responsible for checking those areas. Why haven't they notified anyone?"

"Gaara…" Naruto responded because he'd been struck by the horrible truth, "the division responsible for that quadrant is… Root… Danzo's division of ANBU. He's… he's been in on it all along. It's all coming together. The last time Orochimaru attacked Konoha at the Chuunin was because Danzo kept the Village's media in check and allowed them to have cover."

Everyone was quiet

Naruto then spoke again, "Akatsuki realized that they couldn't extract the Tailed demons and Winged Gods from us… so they made a new plan which involved Orochimaru's science?"

"We have to inform the other Nations. We have to fight together or we will all die" spoke Gaara.

"Look Kiara, Yugito. The business between Vegito, Gaara, and myself is going to have to be put on hold because now there are greater dangers to be concerned with. Please tell him that we will take care of this when the time comes" said Naruto a little worried himself.

"I understand Naruto. Be careful and I hope we see each other soon" said Kiara

"Take care you two" said Yugito right after.

And with that the two of the three beautiful, yet deadly, women of Azura disappeared into the night.

Naruto turned to Gaara, "We have to go see Tsunade, and especially Danzo!"

The two Jinchuuriki males turned around and headed straight for Hokage Tower.

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AN: Ayaaa sorry for the wait my friends. I have been SOOOOO busy. Anyways I hope you liked this chapter. I used some themes from the movie 300. I also hope you enjoyed my OC bits and Naruto's flashbacks with Azura. Next chapter I plan to make it a SasuIno, not a lemon though. I want to show that their relationship isn't just so that I could have them paired up. I want it to have some meaning. Also in this fic I've grown to like Sasuke (nowhere near as much as Naruto so don't worry lol) because I've made him really OC and he isn't much of an asshole. Anyways Read and Review. Till next update SAYANORA!


	15. Candidate

AN: Her everyone, thanks for the reviews… this chapter is a little SasuIno focused because they didn't get much spotlight so far in the story, and I know that this is a NaruSaku centered fic but I want to develop all of the characters as much as I can. Anyway without further ado let's get on with the story…

(End of Last Chapter)

"_I understand Naruto. Be careful and I hope we see each other soon" said Kiara_

"_Take care you two" said Yugito right after._

_And with that the two of the three beautiful, yet deadly, women of Azura disappeared into the night._

_Naruto turned to Gaara, "We have to go see Tsunade, and especially Danzo!"_

_The two Jinchuuriki males turned around and headed straight for Hokage Tower._

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It was still early as Sasuke trained. He would always wake early and push himself. He had to become strong; he had to overcome the demons that lurked in the deep murky waters of his memories.

Sasuke had changed, there was no doubt. He was a good friend to Naruto, he respected Sakura and he was dating Ino. These were three things the Uchiha prodigy would have never believed to be possible when he was younger. Yet for all the change that Sasuke went through, there was still something that ate his soul alive, something that burned his mind every time it would crawl out of the dark abyss of his youthful memories… this _thing_ was Itachi.

'_Itachi…'_ Itachi had been Sasuke's hero when he was younger. He had looked up to his older brother who was identified as the greatest Uchiha prodigy ever. He wanted so desperately to be like him in every single aspect. Now the mere thought of his older brother sickened him.

Sasuke breathed heavily, he'd been in the Jounin training facility (inside the ANBU headquarters, because it was still cold and snowing outside). He'd been there since 4 in the morning throwing kunai at moving targets and running off walls while simultaneously dodging elemental jutsu imitations conjured up by machinery. The training area was a combat room (try to picture the X-men's danger room in which they train, it's a lot like that). Sasuke then drew his katana, the one thing that Orochimaru gave him, which he did not look sourly upon (don't be so judgmental, it's a freaggin' nice sword).

Sasuke started to pump his lightning chakra into his sword and it manifested itself in the form his upgrade of Chidori. Sasuke ran straight, with his Sharingan active. Two projectile machines rose out of the ground and shot 4 spinning razors at him. Sasuke did a forward summersault with his one free hand, his left hand to be specific (because he was holding his sword in the other) and dodged the first two razors. As soon as he landed he went into a roll to avoid the third razor, and then cut through the fourth razor with his lightning enhanced sword. Then two anvil-like weights dropped on both sides of him, his eyes widened and he bolted because the weights exploded sending needles flying everywhere. Thankfully for his Sharingan Sasuke dipped, dodged, ran off walls and used the replacement technique to avoid fatal wounds. When the explosion subsided Sasuke fell onto his knees exhausted. He looked at the scratches on his body, along with some needles that were imbedded in him. He got angry, so angry.

'_How the fuck am I supposed to defeat Itachi if I can't even avoid these stupid traps. I thought all I would need is the Mangekyou to beat him, but all that is going to happen is that our eyes will cancel each other out and I'll get fucked up by his Taijutsu and Ninjutsu skills. FUCK!"_ he thought as he yelled, partially due to physical stress and partially do to emotional stress.

Sasuke packed up and headed home. He was a little cold, but he didn't mind, it was the end of December and he knew that within a month it would be warm again (Narutoverse seasons are different then normal universe seasons, in my Narutoverse winter only lasts three months). He walked through a forest path to get to the Uchiha manor. As he walked he noticed the area where he'd first seen Itachi use kunai, remembering the immense skill Itachi displayed at his age. This thought further aggravated him.

As he got home he looked at his porch and remembered all the times that Itachi flicked him on the forehead in his usual gestures. He hated these memories and thoughts. He hated them because most people should've looked back at these silly antics with their siblings and laughed, these silly antics wanted to make Sasuke cry.

When he walked into his door he dropped his equipment bag and headed into the living room. He hadn't noticed that someone had already entered his home because her boots were at the door where he took off his shoes. Too consumed in grief he didn't think anything of it.

As he entered his living room the memories of his parents' corpses wrought his mind. He could see his fathers face. This brought a tear to his eye. Next he saw his mother, her eyes were so gentle and her smile so inviting, she was the warmest soul Sasuke had ever known. She would always acknowledge and comfort him when his father would be strict and praise Itachi instead of him. Then the disgusting image of Itachi beheading his mother spilled into his thoughts. It made him choke on his tears and growl like an angry pit-bull. The Sharingan in his eyes flickering and transforming into their Mangekyou upgrades. He flipped the small living room table up into the air and is smashed as it landed on the ground, next he punched holes into the walls with rapid succession, opening up more suppressed rage. He grabbed a shelf which contained plates and cutlery and flung it across the room.

"I HATE YOU!" he screamed "I FUCKING HATE YOU **ITACHI!**"

Then Sasuke felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. It was a deep painful, yet exciting rush of energy, his curse seal was activating. He could feel the black, wretched, chakra enhanced tattoos spreading across his body like a plague of disease ridden bacteria. That was then followed by the dark, twisted chakra.

Then he heard a voice "Sasuke… SASUKE!"

He turned his head to see Ino. She was yelling to him, tears in her eyes.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY NOW!" screamed Sasuke.

However Ino didn't listen, she ran towards him at full speed. She engulfed him in a hug.

"Sasuke, I'm here, please Sasuke calm down… I'm here for you" she cried into his ear.

Sasuke froze, he wanted to rage, to kill, yet he was being held back by some subconscious part of his mind.

Ino then looked Sasuke in the eyes and whispered "Shintenshin no jutsu" and dove into his mind.

At the moment all Sasuke could picture in his mind were his parents' dead bodies on the floor and Itachi looking down at him. The young Sasuke was crying as tons of liquid streamed down the youth's face. Then something happened that hadn't happened before in his memories. Itachi's presence was blurred out and was replaced by a beautiful and elegant woman. She was blond and had brilliant blue eyes. Her slender physique made its way to Sasuke and picked him up in her arms. She held him tightly to her as he cried on her shoulder. The young Sasuke put his face in the woman's neck and calmed down as his sobs became quieter and quieter.

In real life Ino could feel Sasuke lift his arms up and put them around her waist. She could see his tattoos retreating and then for a split second the dark chakra shone very bright white. She felt Sasuke's tears on her neck. She leaned back, grabbed his chin and turned his face so that their noses where inches apart. She then softly leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips.

Sasuke then reacted and captured her mouth in a passionate first kiss that he needed so desperately. He was scared that Ino would back away, but when she started responding to the kiss, his worries were gone.

"I'm sorry" he whispered "it's so hard… I can't forget what he did"

"Shhhhh" she replied to him, "it's ok… we'll get through this together… we'll overcome it Sasuke, I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you"

"You always were" said Sasuke more to himself then to Ino "you always showed me so much love, and I acted very cold to you. I'm sorry, so very sorry Ino. Thank you for giving me a chance that I didn't deserve. Thanks for being here right now"

"There is no need to thank me, I'm here because I want to be here" then she leaned back and gave him a smirk with one eyebrow arched, "plus I always have to check up on you… like the reason I was here this morning Sasuke. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FOOD IN YOUR HOME and it takes little old me like half an hour to get here from my place"

"So let's move in together" said Sasuke plainly.

"Sasuke… that's a big step, plus I work at the interrogation unit, it's much too far from the Uchiha compound for me to get up everyday and go there when I don't have missions" she explained.

"Its ok Ino, I sort of want to move out of this place" Sasuke spoke as he looked down.

"Why… this place is amazingly beautiful. It's also so large" she spoke as she looked around. It really was a nice place.

"I-I can't get any sleep, or rest in this house… there are too many haunting memories here Ino" said Sasuke in a low tone.

"Oh… I understand" she spoke considering how hard life must be for the last Uchiha in Konoha. Then she smiled "Ok then, where do you want to move to?"

"Uhm… I was thinking one of the condos at Naruto's building. They're pretty huge and really nice" said Sasuke.

"Yeah they are, but… they're really expensive Sasuke" said Ino.

"I know, but I've done a lot of A and S Rank missions lately… plus… I really feel like selling this place Ino. I never want to come here again, or even bring my family (in the future) for that matter" alleged Sasuke.

"Ok Sasuke" said Ino as she embraced him and leaned her head on his shoulder "I'll move in with you"

"Good" he smiled as he breathed in her hair, '_time to change my life for the better_'.

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Tsunade was sleeping peacefully in her bed. That was until she heard the extreme knocking and yells of one Naruto Uzumaki.

'_What the hell does the brat want now? It's too early in the morning for this shit_' thought the Godaime Hokage as she stirred out of bed to get her night gown. '_He better have a damn good reason_'.

Naruto and Gaara waited for Tsunade to come to the door. Upon her arrival Naruto could tell that she wasn't really a happy camper at the moment.

"What the HELL do you want!?" uttered Tsunade in a venomous tone that made Naruto shiver.

"We've got something really serious to tell you" spoke Gaara in a monotonous voice.

Noting Gaara's seriousness Tsunade calmed herself and spoke "What is it that you need to tell me"

"Hold on to your socks for this one Baa-chan, its going to be one fucked up situation" said Naruto as he proceeded to tell Tsunade about Akatsuki's plans involving the cursed seal clones and Danzo.

When Naruto finished Tsunade was at a loss for words. The only thing she could muster in her mind was her extreme hate for Danzo. She went into her home and ushered Naruto, along with Gaara inside so they didn't have to wait in the cold night.

Tsunade went to her phone and dialed in the ANBU headquarters.

Naruto and Gaara could only hear Tsunade speak because they weren't close enough to the phone; however they understood what was going on.

Tsunade began to give orders as the conversation began, "Toshiro, yes it's Tsunade. I have an urgent mission that needs to be completed within half an hour… Yes, it's S-Rank, but write in the report that it's an A-Rank. Get the best ninja in the facility at the moment to carry out the mission… Make sure they can do it… Ok the details are that they are to assassinate Danzo as soon as possible... No you listen to me, it's been long enough and I have proof of his treason and conspiracy against Konoha… Listen to me, Toshiro, I'm the Hokage and this is an order. Ok who do you have that can go?... Perfect, he's more then qualified to do this task, alright goodbye.

With that Tsunade hung the phone up

She turned to look at Naruto and Gaara, "Tonight Konoha looses one of the greatest monsters that ever lived within its walls" she said.

"Who's going to kill him Baa-chan? He was rival to Sandaime Hokage, you need someone really powerful. Better yet, send me Baa-chan" spoke Naruto.

"Don't worry Naruto" she said as she chuckled, "this person is more then qualified to take Danzo out. He was the number one candidate for Hokage before you came back, and then he withdrew upon your arrival. However I think he would still give you a good run for your money. Besides that I need you and Gaara to go get Sasuke, Ino, Hinata and Sakura. You'll be away on a one-month mission and I have to go over the details with you"

"H-Hokage candidate, come on Baa-chan you gotta tell me who it is" Naruto pleaded

Tsunade smirked as she revealed to Naruto the number one candidate for Hokage before his return. She knew he would be surprised by her answer and he was. He was very surprised indeed.

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Chouji Akamichi hated being given an A-Rank mission with 20 minutes notice; especially when it was an assassination. He was a very kind person and didn't like to kill, but he was a ninja of the leaf and he would kill without hesitating for the people he cherished.

Chouji used to be fat as a child, up until he was 16 years old. He was very kind to his peers even when he didn't receive those kind feelings in return. He was always overlooked and never given any serious thought as a shinobi. People in general didn't really look up to the Akamichi clan. Chouji vowed to change that. He vowed to change all the things that he wasn't satisfied with in his life. He started training himself in elemental manipulation. He also worked out with Lee in Taijutsu.

Chouji had started to gain the respect of his peers for his hard work, and now that his pounds were coming off (from training with Lee) the women were going nuts for him. These were the same women that looked past him when he was a fat youth, he hated how two faced they had become. That's why Chouji fell in love with Ayame. She had accepted Naruto when other hadn't and she had always been nice to Chouji when he'd go in to get food at the Ramen place. They hit it off instantly and ever since then Chouji was content.

As Chouji progressed he was getting more powerful by the day. However he wanted to use his family's jutsu to make their name proud and represent where he came from. People laughed at the idea at first, the Akamichi techniques were not that cool, and in fact they weren't very useful for purposes outside of strength. There was no speed in those techniques, and they couldn't be used in different ways. Chouji changed all of that and developed some very powerful combinations that earned him limelight in Konoha.

He had come so far because he would be the first person in the training facility (along with Sasuke) and the last person to leave. He had taken his dying sensei's words to heart when Asuma said he would be _stronger then anyone_ because of his kindness.

Chouji was all about to take the title of Hokage, but then Naruto returned and he knew that true Hokage was back. He didn't Naruto for coming back. In fact Chouji was glad, Naruto had been treated worse then himself when he was younger and all the boy ever did was smile. Chouji respected Naruto and knew that he was one of the very few people who deserved the role more then himself, and that the role meant much more to Naruto then it ever would for him.

However, right now Chouji was more concerned with the mission at hand. He was going to assassinate one of the most reputable names in the history of Konoha.

'_A-Rank my ass, Tsunade just wants to jip on my pay. Danzo was the Sandaime's rival and in the running for the title of Hokage when they were in their prime. This isn't going to be as easy as it sounds'_ the young man thought to himself.

He put on his ANBU mask which contained two swirls on the cheeks which was similar to the way his face looked when he was chubbier. He no longer had the swirls on his face, but the mask let him look back on his life and still remember the person he was. He might have been fat, but Chouji would always be proud of his past because he had only shown kindness and forgiveness when others chose to poke fun.

Sweeping those thoughts aside he left the ANBU headquarters. As he flew through the dark morning air he radioed fellow ANBU who were on their shifts and requested someone secure the area outside of Danzo's huge home.

'_This is going to be tough, there will be lots of Root ninja guarding his home'_ Chouji thought to himself. Always preparing for the worst was a good thing for him to do. It meant that he couldn't ever, fully, be caught of guard.

Chouji finally arrived outside of the manor. He knew he had to take all the guards out, because his orders were to kill Danzo on sight.

The 2 Root ninja standing in front of the building were just talking to one another when all of the sudden they were swept away by a giant hand.

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Danzo was inside his living room. He sat in front of a fireplace thinking of his upcoming plans for Konoha. The invasion was nearing, along with the Akatsuki's promise that he be the next Hokage of the village. Nothing could stop him now; the ignorant fools didn't even know that a massive army of 500,000 Cursed Seal freaks was hiding right under their noses within their homeland. In one month, all would be his.

These thoughts were making the old man happy, and sending him into a relaxed state. His state was ruined when 6 Root ninja crashed through his wall followed by a giant in an ANBU outfit.

"What the hell is the meaning of this!" yelled Danzo in fury.

"Danzo, you are to be executed on sight for treason against Konoha" spoke the giant.

"Executed? HAHAHA! I may look old fool, but you should've paid attention in history class Akamichi. I rivaled the Sandaime, and I will take pleasure in destroying you" laughed the old man manically "what can you do with your clans useless techniques, you overgrown buffoon"

With that Danzo flashed through a whole bunch of seals and yelled "**Raiton: Dendou Nami!" **As he finished the words a giant wave of electricity came crashing forth from his hands and engulfing the giant Chouji.

As the wave dissipated the burnt and mutilated body of the Giant lay there.

"Pathetic Akamichis. Always so weak" spoke Danzo to himself as he looked at the giant body.

All of the sudden the body 'poofed' away in a big cloud of smoke and Danzo's eyes widened as realization hit him.

Muttering in his disbelief "kage-bunshin, of that siz-" he was then cut off due to the fact that he leaned back matrix-style to evade an attack as a human sized ANBU ninja flew out of the smoke created by the giant shadow clone. Chouji flew out with his fist forward his big chakra butterfly wings where gleaming at his sides.

Danzo leaned back just in time to see Chouji fly over him and completely destroy his entire estate with one unbelievable punch.

"S-stronger the Tsunade" was all that Danzo could mutter.

Chouji turned his gaze onto Danzo; "it's the end of the line" he spoke as they stood in the rubble that used to be Danzo's house.

"Yes for you that is" Danzo replied as he flew towards Chouji and the two engaged in Taijutsu.

Danzo started by throwing a left overhand punch which Chouji avoided by weaving to the right and following with a sweeping kick. Danzo followed through with the momentum of his punch and flipped over the sweep. As soon as he landed he turned to Chouji while simultaneously send an axe kick towards Chouji's neck.

Chouji rolled to the side again and followed with an uppercut which Danzo parried aside with one palm and made to strike Chouji's face with his other palm.

Chouji saw this and chose to use his super strength in a head-butt his fist while he was throwing the punch. This effectively broke Danzo's wrist and forearm and caused him to scream in pain.

Danzo then bit his thumb and drew blood. He used it to do a summoning jutsu.

Danzo stood up smiling as four black shadows rose from the ground, looking very similar to Kakuzu's stringy replacement hearts.

"No one's ever been able to beat Demonic Hollows alone. You're dead fool" chuckled the old man.

The summons flew at Chouji and Chouji was forced to use his evasive skills as he dodged and weaved his way through the summons. They were really fast and moved as though they were phantom ghosts.

Chouji couldn't get a shot at the old man and saw that Danzo was taking this time go get away.

Chouji decided that it was time to get serious. He called forth even more chakra and the butterfly wings grew even larger, also effectively pushing the hollow-like beings back. This gave him time to use the technique he developed and progressed farther then any Akamichi before him.

Chouji put his hands together in a prayer-like fashion he then spoke "K**arada Soujuu: Houmen Mukei Kuiki" **(Body Manipulation: Release Spiritual Limits).

A huge swirl of blue chakra in the shape of butterflies rotated around him. Then the chakra diminished. The phantoms stood still as if nothing happened.

One went forward to grab him but all of the sudden Chouji disappeared.

Danzo was now a good 200 meters away. He had decided to stay and enjoy the show.

That wasn't a good idea, and he realized it when Chouji appeared right next to him in an instant.

"H-How did you avoid the-" Danzo couldn't finish because the screeching of the hollows could be heard as they flew towards the two.

"You'll be the first to see my **Kurogane-Gomu** (Iron-Rubber)combination" spoke Chouji eerily

With that he put his hands together in the same prayer-like fashion and yelled "**Kurogane-Gomu**"

His skin turned metallic silver (like Colossus from X-men). He then wound his arm back and yelled "K**ane-Kyouten**" (Metal-Canon). Chouji's fist flew at an insane speed while it glowed with chakra. His arm stretched 150 meters and smashed through the face of the first hollow and into the one behind it killing two at once.

He then disappeared and reappeared behind the two remaining hollows. Chouji yelled as he crushed the heads of the two hollows who screeched till their death.

He finally turned his cold metallic glare to Danzo "any last words?"

"Just tell me how an Akamichi like you became so powerful" spoke Danzo still amazed by his unbelievable display of talent.

"My chakra cappacity comes from training with Akamichi pills. I have red pill-level chakra, and it is my own natural chakra. By using the pills over and over again, my body ecame used to producing intense chakra and higtening my speed, and abilities (sort of like Luffy's gears in One Piece). The technique that allows me to stretch my body is a technique that also originated from the Akamichi's body manipulating jutsus. I merely control my body's growth with absolute perfection, down to the very cell I want to enlarge and that helps me alter my body in any way I see fit. That and I use a jutsu to harden my body so that I become indestructible yet bendable and stretchable (he practically has Luffy's abilities from One Piece). The hardening jutsu was inspired by Kakuzu of the Akatsuki and my promise to my sensei to be stronger. Being an Akamichi has nothing to do with gaining strength to protect the ones you love" spoke the young man, while standing proud.

"I underestimated you… it has cost me my life. My last request may fall on blind eyes, but please make my death as quick as possible" asked Danzo, though he was expecting Chouji to be brutish and unforgiving, like his fighting style.

It just turned out that Danzo was lucky that he was being killed by Chouji, because even when killing someone, Chouji was kind.

"Of course" Chouji replied while stretching his index finger out long and thin, to the point where it got sharper then a katana "close your eyes" he whispered

"You're kind… thank you" were Danzo's last words

And the last words Danzo ever heard was "I bet at one point I your life, you were too"

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Hinata, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Gaara stood in front of the Hokage.

Tsunade turned towards the group. She breathed in and began, "you're all about to be sent on a very important mission as of today. You have two objectives… one is to warn nations we are allied with, that there is an oncoming threat bigger then any in history. Secondly, and more importantly, you are to rid the world of Akatsuki. This must all be done as soon as possible. If these requirements are not met within a month… return to Konoha immediately as we are preparing for war."

"Hai" they all responded.

"Naruto" spoke Tsunade once more

"Yeah baa-chan?" responded Naruto

"I need you to contact the Azura; they may be the only chance the free world has against these monsters" said Tsunade

"Don't worry, when we're in need they'll be there" he said

"How do you know?" asked Ino

"Because they're as precious to me as you guys are. I'd die for them, and even though I know the situation with them is rough, they'd do the same for me" Naruto smiled as he finished.

And with that they were on their way to find Akatsuki

AN: sorry for the wait. I'm also sorry that this chapter was so random, but her guess what, I think this is the first fanfic that Chouji has ever been a badass in, well the first one I know of. To explain the Chouji part, I did it cause Chouji is one of my fav characters, and no one likes him even though he is kind and generous to people. So I wanted him to get some limelight. Once again sorry for the wait, Read, Review, do what you please, till my next post (which will take a long time seeing as im very busy these days) SAYONARA!


	16. Journey

AN: Hey everyone sorry for the wait, I've just been so busy that I haven't had the chance to update. The constant demands to update are pretty flattering, but I'm sorry once again that it takes me so long… I simply have other things that I have to do first. Anyways time to get back on track with this story. Enjoy…

(End of last chapter)

"_I need you to contact the Azura; they may be the only chance the free world has against these monsters" said Tsunade_

"_Don't worry, when we're in need they'll be there" he said_

"_How do you know?" asked Ino_

"_Because they're as precious to me as you guys are. I'd die for them, and even though I know the situation with them is rough, they'd do the same for me" Naruto smiled as he finished._

_And with that they were on their way to find Akatsuki_

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The six ninja began their walk through the forests of Konoha. The weather got nicer and warmer as they progressed towards Suna. Soon the snow was good and they were surrounded by lush forest.

Their first stop was Suna. For everyone this would not be hard seeing as they had friends in Suna, however for Gaara this would be terribly hard. He was on bad terms with Kankuro.

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Flashback to when Gaara was Kazekage._

_Gaara sat there as the paper work continued to build up on his desk. He sighed. It turned out that being a Kage meant you actually got to less action then a Genin due to the responsibilities you had in your office._

'_How troublesome' he thought 'crap, now I'm starting to sound like my sister's boyfriend'_

_However boring it may have been at times, Gaara still loved the job. He loved the responsibility he had to make sure that no one would ever suffer like him again. No one would ever be left unprotected under his watch. These thoughts made Gaara content in his life._

'_Uzumaki' Gaara contemplated 'you would've loved to be a Kage… it's too bad that people couldn't see you for the hero you really are'_

_Gaara had heard of Naruto's escape from Konoha. He couldn't blame his blonde counterpart. Gaara had been a murderer and his village had forgiven him; on the other hand Naruto had done nothing but protect the weak defend the innocent and fight for the morals that any Kage would be proud to live by in their lives and for some idiotic reason they still shunned him._

'_You made a good choice to leave it all behind… sometimes you need a fresh start' Gaara quietly thought to himself and he leaned back on his chair while his feet were on his desk._

_All of a sudden Gaara felt a very familiar and evil chakra. It was as intoxicating as it was powerful; and it was powerful enough to knock him back off of his chair._

'_I know this chakra' Gaara said to himself in his mind 'I know it as if it's been in my own body… it's disgusting. It has the essence of poison and evil… NO! This… this can't be… it is, without a doubt. This is Shukaku's chakra! B-but it isn't contained, there is no control over it… the Akatsuki couldn't control it and now it's… free'_

_Gaara knew he shouldn't follow this chakra, he knew that he had responsibilities to his own village, but this was personal. He was going to make sure that no one would ever suffer like he did. This beast would die by his hand, and Gaara would go down with it if he had to._

_He quickly moved out of his office, and ran through the hallways. He was making his way to the roof of the Kage's office when his path was blocked by Kankuro._

"_Don't even think about it" were Kankuro's words._

"_What are you talking about?" asked Gaara, not believing that Kankuro could possibly know about Shukaku._

"_Don't be stupid with me. I know you're going to go fight it. I won't allow it you have responsibilities to this Village. You are the Kage… stop being so selfish" spoke Kankuro in a stern voice_

_Gaara gave Kankuro a dark look "don't EVER stand in my way Kankuro. You don't know what it's like to have a vile and twisted demon eating off of your soul for the majority of your life. I will kill that thing and make sure to bring justice to everyone it has harmed before. I want revenge for my MOTHER Kankuro" finished the red haired boy as he bellowed in rage._

_Kankuro still looked at Gaara with a hardened face, "I lost her to that thing too Gaara! But I'm still here protecting my Village!"_

_Gaara got even more infuriated, "You can't possibly know how it feels. I'm responsible for its death. It taunted and tortured me my entire life. I will finish it! I WILL KILL THAT MONSTER! So remove yourself from my path… NOW!"_

"_What if I don't" responded Kankuro calmly_

"_Then I will force you to move" spoke Gaara with venom in his tone._

"_I see" said Kankuro, "then FORCE ME!" he yelled as he flung his hand forward and chakra threads appeared. In a puff of smoke 2 of Kankuro's puppets appeared. One grabbed Gaara in its barrel-like body and the other had a poisonous needle out._

"_This poison will just knock you out till you come to your senses Gaara" said Kankuro, "it isn't lethal"_

_As the second puppet approached the barrel-like puppet it got ready to inject the drugged needle into Gaara. Then all of the sudden the whole hallway was engulfed in sand. Gaara appeared in a small whirl of sand behind Kankuro. He put his hand on Kankuro's shoulder, and Kankuro widened his eyes in shock as he felt killing intent from Gaara for the first time in a very long time._

_Gaara calmly spoke, whilst his hand was still on Kankuro's shoulder "foolish brother, when have you ever been able to defeat me? I will overlook this incident because you are my brother. However, if you ever stand against me again… I'll kill you"_

_With that Kankuro was immersed in sand and thrown hard through the walls in the hallway outside of the Kage's office. After that Gaara disappeared in a twirl of sand, just before some Jounin arrived to find a knocked out Kankuro._

_As Gaara flew through the air on his cloud of sand and incredulous rates he couldn't help but think 'I'm sorry Kankuro… I would never kill you, hurting you was the hardest thing I've ever done… but you can't interfere with this'_

_As Gaara closed in on the signature he arrived at a giant desert. Gaara couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation. He was going to die in a desert, him the king of sand. Fate liked to fuck around a lot with Gaara, why would this be any different._

_As he stood on the sandy plain he felt a rumble underneath him. He quickly summoned a small sand cloud and flew up in the air just before a giant, demonic, sandy hand crushed him._

"_**AHH GAARA, HOW PLEASANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN" **__came Shukaku's disgusting voice as it plagued Gaara's ears _

"_I'm going to kill you" spoke Gaara._

"_**HOW DO YOU PRESUME YOU ARE GOING TO ACCOMPLISH THAT? US BIJUU ARE INVINCIBLE, WE CANNOT EVEN KILL EACH OTHER, YET YOU A MERE MORTAL PLAN ON DESTROYING ME! HAHAHAHA! FOOL" **__mocked the enormous demon._

"_I'm going to seal you away into a weak life form, and crush you like a bug" spoke Gaara, "I've learned the sealing technique the Chiyo-sama used on you. I don't even have to sacrifice my life if I put you in another vessel" Gaara concluded with a smug look on his face._

"_**HAHAHAHA LOOK AROUND YOU BOY. WE'RE IN A DESSERT THAT IS THAT USED TO BE AN OCEAN BUT IS NOW DRIED UP. THERE ARE NO OTHER LIFE FORMS HERE BUT YOU AND I. I WILL KILL YOU HERE HAHAHAHA!"**__ laughed Shukaku._

_Gaara's eyes widened in fear and recognition that Shukaku's words were true. He had just walked into a barren-lifeless death trap._

_Then Gaara's fearful frown turned into a smirk._

"_Then, I guess I'll just have to seal you into myself, and die along with you" Gaara said, as he started making seals. He got on his sand cloud and flew right at Shukaku._

_Shukaku sent arms of sand after him, but Gaara dodged and weaved between them due to the improved movement of his 'absolute defense' sand. However one hand came right for Gaara and he couldn't evade it with his cloud. So Gaara jumped off of the sand cloud and ran on the Sand arm Shukaku made. Gaara ran as hard as he could then jumped for Shukaku's face and yelled "__**SEAL!**__"_

_As Gaara's small palms smacked Shukaku's forehead giant amounts of chakra exploded from Gaara as it encircled Shukaku. The mechanism worked in the reverse way that the Akatsuki statue worked in that fact that Shukaku's bronze chakra went in through Gaara's eyes and mouth instead of leaving._

_Once Gaara had completely absorbed Shukaku, his vision started to blur. His eyelids became heavy, and his body started to feel cold. 'So this is it eh… s-so cold… and dark' however in the darkness there glowed a bronze light._

"_**I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS, EVEN IF IT MEANS THAT I HAVE TO LIVE IN YOUR WRETCHED BODY, I WILL NOT DIE!"**__ spoke the enraged Shukaku._

"_What is happening" asked Gaara as the life came back into his body, "Our souls are supposed to be forfeit" he yelled._

'_I can't live with him in my body again, I'd rather choose death. I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!' thought Gaara whilst he panicked._

"_**I TOLD YOU CHILD, THAT US BIJUU ARE INVINCIBLE. SINCE MY SOULD IS IN YOUR BODY AND TIED TO YOUR OWN LIFE FORCE, YOU HAVE SURVIVED DEATH, BUT I WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU HAD DIED. YOU WILL BE MINE FOREVER FOOL. I WILL TORTURE YOU AND HAUNT YOU FOREVER HAHAHAHA!"**__ beckoned and taunted Shukaku._

"_NOO!" yelled Gaara with tears in his "NOO I HATE YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE"_

_Then Gaara became quiet as another voice overcame his._

"_SHUT UP GAARA! Never beg and despair for an easy way out. I thought I taught you that the last time I kicked your ass" beckoned the powerful voice._

_Gaara looked up at in the direction of the voice. He could only see the silhouette of the person, because the sun fiercely stood behind the youth as though the boy commanded it._

_The when Gaara's eyes adjusted he grew shocked. _

"_U-U-Uzumaki!" spoke Gaara, whilst being stunned._

"_Heheh" chuckled Naruto while grinning, winking, and holding up his thumb in the 'good guy' pose._

'_This time it'll be different Shukaku… I promise' thought Gaara._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Back to Present_

Gaara's face soured at the thoughts of his last interactions with his brother, and how he'd left his village. It was going to be very awkward meeting him again. Hell he hadn't even met his own sister yet. What would his siblings think? Did they miss him, or were they glad he was gone? All of these questions bothered Gaara deeply as he continued on the path.

Hinata who stood beside Gaara could feel that the young man was being troubled. She grasped his hand tightly which caught Gaara's attention. As he looked into her eyes, Hinata gave him a cute little smile and then stood on the tips of her toes to plant a soft kiss on his lips.

Gaara looked at Hinata. She was stunning, smart, sincere, powerful, all these amazing qualities that every guy looked for in a girl… no, that every _man _looked for in a _woman_. She deserved the best and Gaara didn't feel worthy at times. He would often wonder why Naruto never noticed Hinata. It really confused him, but he didn't let that bother him too much, because had that been the case, Hinata might not have been with him right now.

As the three couples walked together two by two (Sasuke and Ino at the front, Gaara and Hinata at the middle, whilst Naruto and Sakura followed up at the rear) they talked kept to their respective boyfriend/girlfriend.

Gaara continued to walk beside Hinata, all the more quiet. That was how they communicated. They were both people who thoroughly enjoyed the silence and respected it for all its worth. However to live in silence forever, would not really be living, so that is why Hinata spoke up.

"What's bothering you babe?" she asked as she clenched her lover's hand even more tightly.

Gaara sighed and explained the situation to Hinata.

When he was done Hinata just looked at him with tears in her eyes. "That's terrible" she mumbled, "I'm so sorry".

Gaara sighed once again, and then looked at Hinata with a small smile "Its ok, as long as you're with me, it'll always be ok".

Hinata leaned into Gaara and placed her face in the crook of his neck, once she did this Gaara proceeded to pick her up bridal style and just held her close to him as he walked.

"I'll always be here with you" Hinata mumbled to Gaara softly

Gaara simply smiled and responded calmly, "I'm glad"

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Naruto watched Gaara and Hinata from behind as he followed with Sakura. A small smile etched onto his face.

He felt bad in all honesty. He had known that Hinata loved him, he wasn't stupid. He just loved Sakura so much that it would be unfair to Hinata. She was such a great person that it would break Naruto's heart to treat her as a replacement when she had so much potential to be an amazing lover to someone who deserved her and gave her his entire heart. Naruto knew that Gaara and Hinata would be happy. They represented all that was serene, silent, and right in the world.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto spoke shakily

"Hm?" responded Sakura

"I need to talk to Hinata for a second" he sighed, "so could you go up ahead with Gaara? It won't take long"

Sakura looked at him with a hurt expression on her face. '_Why does he want to speak to Hinata instead of walking with me?'_ she thought.

However all she replied was "H-Hai"

As Sakura walked up to Gaara and Hinata she said "Sorry to bother you two, but Naruto would like to speak to Hinata for a second and he told me to head on with Gaara"

Gaara just nodded, as he knew what the discussion would be about.

Hinata looked confused, but agreed nonetheless.

As Sakura and Gaara walked on ahead, Hinata and Naruto stood a little farther back from

the crowd.

As the two walked Hinata asked "what is it that you wanted to speak to me about Naruto?"

Naruto looked down to the ground with a sad expression

"Naruto?" Hinata asked once again.

"I'm sorry…" Naruto said slowly, "I'm so sorry that I didn't acknowledge your feelings for me when we were younger. I knew the pain you suffered, because I suffered it as well whenever I thought of Sakura-chan"

Hinata gasped, "y-you knew!?"

Naruto nodded, "I put you through so much pain and angst, that I feel horrible, but I couldn't be with you Hinata. I couldn't use you as a replacement… you deserved so much more. If there had ever been a moment where I didn't feel so strongly about Sakura-chan, I would've jumped at the chance to be with you… but I couldn't… I can't stop loving her"

Hinata smiled "Naruto… This is why I loved you when we were younger. Even though you didn't fall for me, you thought of me, and what would be best for me. You always… thought of everyone else above yourself. I'm glad Sakura noticed you Naruto, because it would be a shame for a heart like yours to be alone in this world. And hey, if you had fallen for me, I wouldn't have gotten together with Gaara. You were right Naruto, because when I look at Gaara, I know that I love him, and I can feel that he loves me too".

Naruto smiled "I'm so glad, I really, truly am. I just needed to tell you what an amazing person you are so that you know I respect you and have never once in my life looked down on you. I have never thought of myself as too good for you, or thought of Sakura-chan as 'better' then you. It's just that Sakura-chan was the first girl to ever acknowledge me directly, and publicly. Even though it was through an act of hate, she called me 'Naruto' whenever she hit me, not 'dobe' or 'dead last', or even 'Kyuubi' I was always 'Naruto' to her. She looked past the hate others had, she just simply didn't like me because I was annoying, but she looked at me as a person. That is why I can never ever care for another woman as much as I care for Sakura-chan. You may have thought of me as a person too, but Sakura was the first to tell me that to my face. I'm sorry for any pain, or any feelings of insecurity that I might've caused you, because I know how that feels, and I hate being responsible for making someone as great as you feel that way. I just wanted to give you some closure." Naruto finished.

Hinata just smiled again, "Naruto… you're too good for this world. Thank you so much. Even though I did get over you… it still was hard to think to myself that you would never ever notice me no matter what, and that I was helpless. Knowing this… it truly makes me feel more content. I would never blame you for liking Sakura-chan over me, she's great-"

"No Hinata, don't speak of Sakura as if she's better then you. She just happens to be special to me. In the big picture, you two are both great in your own ways. Never ever cut yourself short. You're amazing. You've become powerful and strong, and beautiful… you've truly impressed me… and now you're the one who inspires me Hinata. I mean it sincerely" Naruto spoke.

Hinata had tears of joy in her eyes. "Naruto… I have always been inspired by you… for you to tell me that I inspire you… arigato Naruto… arigato" she finished as she hugged Naruto and gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek (NOTE: **FRIENDLY**, THIS IS **NARUSAKU!**).

Naruto smiled back at Hinata, '_you're wonderful Hinata, and you deserve everything you've accomplished'._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

With their conversation being over Naruto returned to Sakura and Hinata returned to Gaara.

As Naruto and Sakura were once again walking at the back of the group Naruto looked at Sakura. She had an incredibly sad expression on her face. Naruto could tell something was bothering her.

"Sakura-chan… what's wrong my love?" he asked quietly as he put on arm around her shoulders and got in close to her.

Sakura was on the verge of tears. She looked up and spoke softly "N-Naruto, when we fought a-and you said that you wished you hadn't overlooked Hinata due to the fact that you loved me… d-did you really mean it?"

Naruto sighed hard, he had already told her that he didn't mean it, but he knew how deep insecurities lie. Everyone is insecure about losing the person they love. Even Naruto would be put in a foul mood every once in a while about his insecurities on the 'second best' topic. He understood that Sakura felt the exact same way as he did.

Naruto looked into Sakura's eyes, as small lines of tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Sakura-chan" he said as he brought them to a halt whilst the others walked ahead.

"When I spoke to Hinata a couple of minutes ago… I _was_ talking to her about my regrets" he said

Sakura gasped as she tried desperately to get out of his hold "let me go!" she seethed.

"BUT!" he said forcefully as to capture the pink haired kunoichi's attention, "my only regrets were of putting her through angst Sakura. A feeling you and I know so well. I hurt her, because she loved me Sakura-chan. I know how it's like to be overlooked when someone loves. To feel like you're second best to someone. I had to let her know that she should never feel inferior Sakura-chan. That she is a great person. I had to give her closure. If not for her sake, then for my own, because the guilt was killing me" he finished.

Sakura looked stunned, "Naruto, the way I'm feeling now, this pain of being compared to Hinata, i-is this how you felt all along when we were younger. I loved Sasuke Naruto, and he hurt me by rejecting me, but I had the comfort of knowing that I was the only female in his life, even though he never admitted it. I was never scared of him choosing someone else over me; b-but this feeling right now… it's 1000 times worse. If I had known this was the pain you went through everyday just so you could love me… I-I… and Hinata she noticed you from the start, yet it's me who's here with you now. I-I don't deserve this" she wept into his chest "I hurt you so much. I wanted to leave with Sasuke Naruto. The night he defected. I never told you… I was willing to leave. I'm so glad I didn't Naruto"

Sakura then gasped as she felt Naruto's hands slide off of her. She looked up into his eyes and saw cold, sad emotions.

"NO NO NO NARUTO! THAT WAS IN THE PAST! NO, I LOVE YOU!" she shrieked as she hugged him harder then she'd ever hugged him, or anyone else in her life.

"Forgive me Naruto, please"

He just looked at her as if he were a robot, emotion completely gone from his face. He spoke quietly and very gravely "Y-you were going t-to leave with him. You were going to leave m-me alone… you were going to go to Orochimaru, with Sasuke… you loved him that much more them me…?"

Sakura was crying so hard that she was having trouble breathing, "Naruto… please, I already told you that… I only love you. Please, I could've hidden this from you… I could've never told you about the night Sasuke dejected, and I could've left it at that. You would've never found out… but Naruto I told you because I love you, I can't stand living a lie with you. Please Naruto that has to mean something to you"

Sakura was so worried, but then was hit with an instant wave of relief. She felt Naruto hold her in her arms again. "You telling me the truth… it does matter. I-I appreciate it. I love you but-"

'_BUT! But what? Oh my god, please don't leave me'_ thought Sakura as she looked into Naruto's glazed eyes.

"It still hurts Sakura-chan. My heart, it feels like its being squeezed by hand made of needles" he said as he breathed hard.

Sakura quickly opened Naruto's Azura cloak, and lifted the clothes he had under the cloak to expose his chest. She started kissing slightly to the left of the middle of his chest, where his _heart_ was. She kissed up his chest, to his neck and then his mouth.

She spoke almost desperately in between kisses "Naruto, I swear, I will spend the rest of my life making sure that your heart never hurts again Naruto. If I have to heal it physically to the point of dying from chakra depletion, or emotionally to the point that my mind shuts down. I will devote my entire life towards making you happy. I'm so sorry, all I do is hurt you, but I'll heal you Naruto, I'll heal you ten times more then I've hurt you. It's my promise of a lifetime to you Naruto. I swear it on my life-"

"Shhh. It's ok Sakura-chan… I love you… I forgive, I always have, I always will" he said softly and started to kiss her passionately.

Sakura kissed back with even more passion and started grinding herself against Naruto's body. She could feel his growing erection on her thigh, and she started to rub it with her hand.

Then all of the sudden Naruto stopped her "I know this is the first time that I've stopped the 'action' but we're going to fall behind the group if we keep this up" he said sadly.

"Hehehe" Sakura chuckled, "that's why the Hiraishin was made Naruto, so we could afford a couple of _**extra minutes**_"

Naruto's grin grew "Sakura-chan… you're an even bigger pervert then I am"

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Half an hour later Naruto and Sakura flashed in behind Gaara and Hinata via the Hiraishin.

"Sorry we took so long" Sakura said sleepily "Naruto… uhm… lost his forehead protector… isn't that right Naruto"

"…yeah! That's it! That's why we were so late" he said as he held his hand behind his head scratching his neck.

Hinata and Gaara just nodded while grinning.

Sasuke looked over to Ino and smirked as he whispered lowly so only Ino would hear "Naruto always has his forehead protector sealed in his cloak"

Ino rolled her eyes.

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

After a couple of hours they finally arrived at the gates of Suna, where they were met by the new Kazekage.

"Hello Gaara" spoke Kankuro as his white robes fluttered in the air.

AN: Wow that was long for me to write in one sitting. Anyways there you go, I hope you like the chapter I tried to atone for my late posts. Till next time (though it'll be a long wait again so don't get your hopes up) Read and Review please SAYANORA!


	17. Siblings

AN: Hey everyone. Sorry for the wait once again. I've just been busy with exams and summative work. Here is my update. Thank you all for the reviews, sorry I couldn't answer many because I was really, really busy. Anyways here is the next installment. On with the story…

(_End of last chapter)_

_After a couple of hours they finally arrived at the gates of Suna, where they were met by the new Kazekage._

"_Hello Gaara" spoke Kankuro as his white robes fluttered in the air._

* * *

"Kankuro…" spoke Gaara as he looked at the hardened face of his older brother.

Kankuro had always given off and intimidating aura, similar to one that a bully would. Now Kankuro's aura was even more frightening. He had a giant scar running down from his right cheek past his neck to his collar bone. He wore the face of someone who had seen many battles.

"What brings you back _traitor_" came the harsh words of the older sibling.

"Traitor!? What're you talking about?" retorted Naruto energetically at the Kazekage.

"What I'm talking about is the fact that both you and my brother are missing Nin, and that I would be well within my power and reason to execute the two of you" hissed Kankuro.

"Are you sure you want to try that?" questioned Sasuke with a menacing look on his face.

Kankuro just snorted. "It isn't worth the time nor the effort to deal with you fools. You present no viable threat to my home. Just state your reason for being here"

"We were sent by the Hokage to speak with you on manners related to a great threat which all the Shinobi Nations are at risk from" elaborated Sakura, "please Kazekage-sama allow us to speak. Were we not friends before?"

Kankuro looked down, but his facial expressions did not soften. He then lifted his head again. "You must go through interrogation first; so that I know you are actually leaf Nin and not just some disguised enemies… Suna has lost more Kages then any other Shinobi village in history. That is why we are always under threat of attack, because opposing forces don't take our village leaders seriously. I guarantee that if you make the same assumption about me, I'll repay your arrogance with death. I am unlike the other Kazekage's… I will not fall"

Kankuro motioned towards the ninja stationed at the gates. He signaled the sign which clarified entry. As the group of leaf Nin entered the gate, all but one went through. As the gates shut just Kankuro and Gaara stood facing each other as small swirls of sand could be seen making patterns in the desert wind.

The two brothers stood there looking at each other, both with their arms crossed and both with their robes flapping in the wind. The sun was setting slowly to give the sky a red tint, eerily reminiscent of the feelings between the two siblings.

"You've changed" said Gaara calmly.

"I've been forced to" repeated Kankuro with similar serenity in his voice. "I've been abandoned by everyone, I am the only one left to carry on father's will and legacy as Kazekage"

"No one has abandoned you" said Gaara

"Really? You left, not only me, but the entire Nation. That really scarred our image and made us look weak in the eyes of others. You disgraced the title of Kazekage; you made it synonymous with the term _quitter_" Kankuro said bitterly

He then spoke again, "After you left I was burdened with picking up the pieces and defending Suna from its worst year in history. I demolished all attempts to weaken this Nation. In the middle of it all, when I needed the most support, Temari left to move to Konoha so that she could be with that lazy fool. I was left alone to protect Suna and father's legacy, something you two did not value over your own selfish reasons"

"My reasons, selfish as they may be, ended up saving lives more then you could ever imagine. I'm sorry for the struggles you've gone through, however I regret nothing" stated Gaara.

"Well regret was never your strong suit" smirked Kankuro "all the times you've killed innocent life as a youth, regret doesn't have shit to do with you"

That hit a cord as Kankuro could feel Gaara's chakra spike in anger. Kankuro kept smirking not intimidated in the least.

"Why did you come back here?" asked Kankuro, "really? Did you miss home that much? Did you expect me to say that I missed you, and that I was glad you came? No you're smarter then that. What is your purpose to come here?"

"To… to… to get some closure. I had to see this place one more time" alleged Gaara.

"Hn." Snorted Kankuro, "You're wasting your energy along with my time" with that he turned his back to Gaara and started to walk back towards the village.

Then he was stopped by Gaara's hand on his right shoulder

"I wasn't done talking to you" said the red-haired Jinchuuriki.

"Well I'm done talking to you!" replied Kankuro as his eyes narrowed. With that he swung Gaara's hand away with his own. As Kankuro's hand brushed Gaara's aside, a small blade shot out from inside of the Kage's sleeve. The blade was attached to what seemed like a puppet-spider which had its limbs wrapped around Kankuro's wrist and resembled an over-sized bracelet. As soon as the spider-puppet came into view, it jumped at the Jinchuuriki with incredible speed. It was caught in mid air by demonic sand arm.

"I've never seen this puppet before" commented Gaara.

"In the year of your absence I've designed many of my own puppets, that one in your hand is called **Chibara**. It is responsible for the deaths of many S-Ranked Shinobi" Kankuro responded with a smirk.

"The ninja's couldn't have been S-Ranked if they were defeated by such a small and worthless toy such as this one" said Gaara despite the fact that the poison edged blade on that little spider-puppet almost got him in the jugular.

"You've always been naïve Gaara. Especially when it came to fights" countered Kankuro "Chibara itself does not pose a great threat, but its abilities are quite fierce"

"Let's see how fierce it is after this" said Gaara as he crushed the puppet with his sand arm. Suddenly a great could of purple smoke shot out from the small puppet. Gaara however had once again been protected by his sand which had created a dome over him so that none of the purple haze could reach his lungs.

As the haze blew away Gaara lowered his dome. "Once again, only a technique that would work on lesser Nin"

Kankuro just chuckled, "Do you know that some spiders allow their eggs to hatch within their bodies and the young only hatch once the mother has died?" questioned the older of the two siblings.

Then Gaara's eyes grew wide as he saw hundreds upon hundreds of little seals on pieces of paper each the size of a little square like those found on grid paper. All of those little pieces of paper went 'poof' and transformed into an exact replica of the puppet Gaara had just destroyed.

"I designed Chibara like a spider so that when it dies, its offspring avenge the mother" smiled Kankuro.

Gaara looked at the hundreds of puppet spiders. On each limb of each spider needles started to stick out. The little puppets then launched themselves at Gaara. Gaara quickly flew up into the air on a cloud of sand, but the spiders shot webbing up onto the sand cloud and were dragged along with Gaara. Gaara then proceeded to crush many of the smaller spiders with his demonic sand arms. As Kankuro noticed that all of his spider puppets were being crushed he made a hand sign that caused all of the spiders to explode sending needles and purple smoke everywhere. Gaara was caught off guard and raised his sand shield as quick as possible. It worked to cut off the gas, and most of the needles. However when the shield lowered Gaara saw that one needle had penetrated his absolute defense and had struck him in the arm.

Kankuro noticed this and saw that Gaara's movements were starting to slow down. "Poison's a bitch ain't it?" asked Kankuro while smirking.

"I wouldn't know" replied Gaara as he faced his brother breathing heavily.

"Stop trying to fool me Gaara. I know an attack like that wouldn't get through and actually hit you, dispel the clone and face me like a man" said Kankuro.

"So you knew eh?" were the last words of Gaara's sand clone before is fell apart and became one with the sand.

Right behind Kankuro a small sand hill formed and grew larger and larger until it took the form of Gaara. Then a giant hand of sand scooped up all the remaining needles left over from the exploding spider puppets and tossed them with great velocity at Kankuro.

Kankuro quickly whipped a scroll our and a small monkey like puppet popped out. It crawled on his back and transformed itself into armor around Kankuro's body just before the thrown needles could make contact.

"This puppet is one that I wear; I was inspired by Sasori of the Red Sands. Its name is **Goguta** and it serves as armor and even give me the ability to fly" finished Kankuro as to poles stuck out of Goguta's shoulder. Around these poles blue chakra concentrated and manifested into wings, making Kankuro seem like a demon because the wings resembled those of a bat's.

As Kankuro took flight, Gaara followed him up in the air. Gaara then spoke "You know that armor won't help you… my sand could destroy it easily Kankuro. Give up now"

"This armor's purpose isn't simply for protecting me. Haven't you noticed what's on it?" replied Kankuro with a question of his own.

Then Gaara saw. All over the armor were seal markings.

"Each of these seals helps me summon forth another one of my puppets. I have 400 seals on this suit of armor in total" said Kankuro.

Gaara just chuckled "I'll just break all of your toys Kankuro, for sand in the desert is infinite. And even if it weren't for me it makes no difference because I have much more then sand up my sleeves brother. Much more!"

"We'll see" was all Kankuro said.

Kankuro flew towards Gaara as he did so he ran his right hand along his left forearm. Each seal that was marked on the armor erupted in smoke and summoned a different puppet. The five puppets stood in the air floating. These puppets were like manikins, with no faces or designs painted on them whatsoever.

"These puppets are special ones" said Kankuro as his fingers dangled the chakra threads which controlled them. Immediately the puppets broke apart into little pieces that floated into the air around five metallic orbs which Gaara assumed were the cores of each of the five puppets. Each floating piece had a blade sticking out. The blades flew at Gaara, to which Gaara dodged as the blades missed him and flew away.

"I don't see what's so special about them, you were too lazy to give them nice designs" said Gaara, "They don't even use poison sm-" Gaara couldn't even finish as he was forced to dodge the exact same blades he had dodged a minute ago.

"H-How? They're not attached to you chakra threads" stammered Gaara in disbelief.

"Now Gaara if I told you my secrets, this wouldn't be any fun at all would it?" chuckled Kankuro.

Gaara just glared as he swung his hand upwards in anger, with that a giant arm of sand came crashing upwards, however Kankuro countered the arm with the flying blades of metal he controlled. The two continued to crash their weapons at each other while dodging as well. As Gaara flew backwards from Kankuro due to the result of another stalemate between the sand and the numerous flying blades Gaara stopped and decided not to attack right away.

'_I've noticed three things' _thought Gaara to himself _'first, Kankuro isn't losing any chakra, while controlling the flying blades. Second he always has those metal orbs floating around him, yet he never uses them to attack. Finally whenever I'm retreating from the blades and they get farther and farther away from Kankuro and those orbs floating around him, they're velocity decreases… I understand!" _

"I guess you really were a fan of Sandaime Kazekage eh? However Kankuro, you can never replicate the original. Those puppets though, I have to commend you, it takes genius to create something like them" said Gaara

Kankuro growled, "So you figured it out eh?"

"Yes I did" replied Gaara, "Those orbs; they're magnets, which you use to control the flying blades. I first noticed that you weren't using any chakra to control the blades at all, which meant that something else had to be manipulating those blades. Next I noticed that you always had those orbs floating around and that you never used them to attack. That intrigued my interest and told me that they are of importance. Finally whenever I am far away from you and those orbs, the velocity and force of your blades decreased. I know the properties of a magnet and metal, the closer the metal is to the magnet the stronger the force is. Therefore it was quite an easy deduction. The only thing that confuses me is how you created those puppets, how you got the magnetic properties to work"

"I used the remains of Sasori's Kazekage puppet. A reconnaissance team brought them back to the village… remember Gaara" said Kankuro.

* * *

_Flashback after Gaara's rescue_

_Gaara sat in his office looking at paperwork, thinking of the things that had just occurred to him. He felt so different without Shukaku in his body_

_Then Sakura walked into his office, which startled the young Kazekage._

"_Haruno-san… how may I help you?" spoke Gaara_

"_First of all you can call me Sakura" she said with a smile "and I just wanted to drop something off for you"_

_She placed a large bag on Gaara's desk "These are the remnants of Sandaime Kazekage… I just thought his body deserved to be brought home, rather then being a puppet to Sasori" finished Sakura_

_Gaara was speechless "Thank you… Sakura… He'll get properly buried, or whatever is left of him I mean"_

"_No problem" finished Sakura with a smile as she bowed and left_

* * *

"Y-You desecrate the body of one our village's national heroes?" spokeGaara in anger and disbelief.

"Don't lecture me traitor, he was a Kazekage, he would've wanted his strength to be used to protect this village" spoke Kankuro

Gaara just glared at Kankuro. After staring him down for about ten seconds Gaara hurled massive amounts of sand towards the floating orbs around Kankuro. Just as Gaara thought that he had destroyed the troublesome objects, the metal orbs glowed with static energy which radiated off of them. The energy blocked the sand and deflected it away.

"Don't think it'll be that easy Gaara" said Kankuro in a confident tone.

"I guess I'll have to get serious then" answered Gaara just as calmly. He closed his eyes and focused. Then the sand around his body started to glow bronze, and give off huge signs of energy.

"What the hell is this!?" asked Kankuro as he felt the power surging from Gaara.

"This is my new and improved sand, powered with demonic chakra. I'll crush those orbs with it" announced Gaara as his sand hurtled itself towards the flying orbs.

The blades in the air made their way to block off the sand Gaara had sent, however the 'super powered' sand out maneuvered the blades due to its increased speed and power. As it came near the orbs there was a huge collision.

Gaara smirked but then his smile faltered because he saw that the orbs not only had protected Kankuro, but they had been completely unaffected once again.

"Not going to work brother, the chakra concentration in these orbs is immense. Even you can't overcome the sheer magnetic and static powers that are used to defend me, or even help me attack" proclaimed Kankuro and as if on queue a giant wave of lighting flew towards Gaara from the orbs. Gaara's sand managed to block the attack but with much more trouble then the flying blades.

"You're lucky that your sand is full of chakra brother, had that been your normal sand, you would've died from that attack" said Kankuro

'_Shit! I can't get through it, the static keeps blocking my sand... Static… That's it!'_ thought Gaara to himself.

Gaara stood still and let the sand in the air fall to the ground. He narrowed his eyes. He crossed his arms in front of his face and gathered his chakra. As it released from his body it made the air dense and hard for Kankuro to move. It also made the whole area vibrate and shake under its intensity (like reiatsu from bleach characters).

"Your chakra, it feels… heavy, different from normal chakra" said Kankuro as he was finding it difficult to adjust to the density in the air.

"This is divine, it is the chakra that can only be produced by Jinchuuriki who have fully controlled their inner deity" said Gaara as his eyes showed the power within his soul.

"It is of no consequence… sand is still at a disadvantage towards the electric properties produced by my orbs" declared Kankuro

"We'll see what my sand is capable of" spoke Gaara as the world shook around him. He then brought his hands down and went through a couple of hand seals and finally finishing with his knuckles pressed against each other. Gaara yelled "**Suna Raishin** **no jutsu **(Thunder God of Sand Technique)"

Gaara's sand exploded upwards sending tiny sand needles into the air. All of the sand needles dug themselves into the floating blades that surrounded Kankuro and his flying orbs. As they stuck out the little sand needles grew little branches to make them look like hundreds and hundreds of very small antenna.

Kankuro just looked confused and then laughed "What? You trying to poke my eyes out with those little pathetic-" then Kankuro saw the true effect of the technique.

The little antennae were absorbing all the static and magnetic energy of the flying orbs.

'_Where is all the energy going, is he grounding it? No… he can't be because I can still feel-'_ Kankuro's thoughts were interrupted as he could see that all of the electric energy that was taking from his orbs was accumulating in Gaara's hand. '_The antennae transferred the energy to him like a series of wires!'_

All of the electric energy was getting concentrated into Gaara's right palm. At first it was blue, but then the chakra changed colors as the concentrated energy in Gaara's palm gave off bronze and blue light.

Gaara gave Kankuro a glare with all of the weight of the world on it. "Did you really think that I wouldn't have found a way to counter electricity by now? I know the earth element better then any other Shinobi on this planet, and I was responsible for the assassination of the _**THUNDER DAIMYO!**_ Do you really believe I am a big enough fool to not have figured a way to fight back against my weakness? You'll pay for your ignorance. This technique was inspired by Sasuke Uchiha when he first showed me my element's weakness at the Chunin exams".

Gaara grasped his right wrist with his left hand and brought it close to his face. The glow light Gaara's eyes to show the fire that burned in his soul. Gaara roared as he flew towards Kankuro and the flying orbs "**CHIRDORI NO SUNASHIN!!! **(Thousand Birds Chirping of the Sand God)"

As Gaara flew towards Kankuro, the sight of him looking like a surfer riding through the air on a thin cloud of dust, he prepared to make the attack as devastating as possible.

Kankuro hurled the floating blades towards Gaara, but Gaara's sand few up like a wall and stopped all of them. Then a giant hole was created in the wall as Gaara flew through and slammed his energy loaded fist into Kankuro's flying orbs which were all in front of Kankuro in an attempt to save the Kage's life.

The result was a giant explosion of wind, dust, sand, and electricity. Gaara was hurled back but caught himself in the air with his sand. He looked on as the dust settled and there he saw Kankuro grasping his arms and breathing hard, while blood flowed down his forehead over his left eye which was closed. The metal orbs shattered to pieces and crumbled before Kankuro's eyes.

"Give up Kankuro; you're luck to even be alive after that technique. Your strongest puppets are gone and you have nothing left to counter me with" spoke Gaara.

"Hehehe" chuckled Kankuro, "You forget, that I have three hundred and ninety-five puppets left brother"

"Release them and see what happens" dared Gaara.

"There would be no point as we are in a desert and you would clearly destroy them due to your geographic advantage. I don't want to have to go through the trouble of rebuilding them once again" sighed Kankuro almost comically. "However… I do have one puppet left that would work perfectly for this situation" sneered Kankuro, "and unfortunately for you, it is even more powerful then those which you have just destroyed"

Gaara just looked at him and the shook his head in disapproval "you can't even use your arm, how are you supposed to control your puppet. If it is the same method as before and you are planning to rely on magnetism, I'll make sure my next attack kills you".

Kankuro chuckled again. Then the puppet he wore as armor started to change. It grew and created a mask over his face. The mask had an eerie glow of chakra at the eyes and temples of Kankuro's head. "This invention has secured my name as legend in not only the books of puppet masters, but in Shinobi history as well. I have created a tool, this mask specifically, that allows a puppeteer to control their puppets with out their hands, only the mind is needed. The best puppet master is the one that always retains the element of surprise. Remember that Gaara, for now you can't judge what I'm going to do based on my hands at all"

Gaara's eyes widened. This was much unexpected. '_He's really become powerful… maybe even a better Kazekage then I was… I could never be strong enough for others… I-I… I can't let him win'_ thought Gaara to himself. Trying not to lose an emotional battle for it would secure his fate.

Kankuro laughed out loud "come out and say hello **Keechan-Bakudan**!"

There was a massive explosion of smoke and the world shook behind the weight of this puppet.

Gaara looked up, and for the first time in a very long while he was _afraid!_ _'That… thing… it-it… it has to be at least sixty feet tall!'_ thought the red-haired Jinchuuriki.

Kankuro's puppet had a very disturbing look. It was like a giant caterpillar with series of human arms coming out of the sides. Its body was covered in a giant red curtain which only made the head and the many arms visible. The most disturbing detail was that instead of an insect head, it had golden, metallic, baby head. The head had many, many eyes. (AN: if you watch Bleach, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Division 12 Captain, his Bankai, looks a lot like this puppet, except it only has two eyes and no arms. That was if you couldn't draw a picture in your mind from my description).

The puppet opened its eyes narrowly. Poison clouds were coming off of it like carbon dioxide came off of trees. The Giant puppet charged towards Gaara. It lifted its head to expose many sharp blades on the underside of its body as it came crushing down on Gaara.

There was a giant impact as sand flew everywhere in the air. As the sand settled back onto the ground, Kankuro scanned the surface of the desert for any sign of Gaara.

Then a pile of sand arose and took the form of Gaara.

"How did you avoid that!?" asked Kankuro in a stunned voice.

"That isn't important. What is important is that I will destroy that thing" answered Gaara.

"You're welcomed to try" sneered Kankuro.

Gaara lifted his hand in the air and flung it in a motion towards the giant puppet. The chakra powered sand flew hard towards the puppet, but was then engulfed in it's cape. Gaara was stupefied.

"What the fu-" Gaara was cut off as the many eyes of the puppet started glowing. Its mouth opened slowly and then its eyes shot open and all the bronze colored sand flew back at Gaara out of the puppets eyes and mouth. It was ten times stronger and faster.

The sand hit Gaara and he flew back many yards. His body was not moving.

Kankuro smiled, but then his smile faltered as he noticed Gaara's face crack only to reveal that it was a decoy body made of sand.

"Manage to avoid it again eh" said Kankuro "even you can't keep running forever"

Gaara just glared and tried a fire jutsu, and the exact same thing happened, the puppet pulled up its cape with one of its many arms and enveloped the flame much like a matador envelopes a bull in the red sheet he uses as a distraction. The puppet then redirected the attack back at Gaara with ten times the power and speed.

Kankuro just watched with amusement etched on his face, "you can try it with water, wind or lighting based jutsu as well if you want. You won't get a different result"

Gaara was getting angry "how does it absorb all the attacks!?" Gaara questioned, mostly to himself.

"Hehehe I'll tell you as it holds no significance" said Kankuro, "after you left, we got word the Uzumaki had left before you. Soon after there was an incident concerning Akatsuki right before you fled Suna to go after the Ichibi. We sent a search party to go after you, but there was nothing found. We came across the Akatsuki base where you were once captured. We found the remnants of the destroyed statue which was used to extract Bijuu. I used the pieces of that statue to create the strongest and largest puppet in history… Keechan-Bakudan. Can you not tell from the many eyes, and its giant arms? This puppet is the strongest because the statue it was created from has the ability to absorb chakra, as it was used to extract the Bijuu, which are giant masses of infinite chakra. I used this material knowing that this puppet can not be defeated and that it would give me the ability to surpass any Kazekage before me"

"Unbelievable" said Gaara.

"No elemental attacks will harm Keechan-Bakudan" spoke Kankuro definitively "there is no hope… you… you… _demon"_

* * *

AN: hehehe cliffie! Anyways sorry for the wait guys. I had got complaints because people wanted more action in my fic. I hope I delivered so far. So for the lack of fluff or any pairings this chapter but I wanted to focus on action. I gave Gaara some cool techniques in this one, Next chapter it will be exlplained how Gaara avoided all those unavoidable attacks, finally the Thunder God of Sand Technique was done in one of the Naruto movies so I can't take credit for making that attack. Next chapter will be the conclusion of Gaara and Kankuro's fight. I made Kankuro strong enough so that he will test Gaara's abilities and he will show you what a Jinchuuriki of Azura is capable of. Anyways I hope I didn't disappoint. Till next chapter SAYANORA!!! 


	18. Resolve

AN: Yo, what's up everyone? Sorry for the long awaited update, I've been very busy and unable to write. If there are tons of mistakes (grammatically as well as in the spelling, that is because my Microsoft Word won't underline something when I spell it wrong. If you know how to help that, please give me a clue. Anyways on with the story…

_(End of last chapter)_

"_Unbelievable" said Gaara._

"_No elemental attacks will harm Keechan-Bakudan" spoke Kankurou definitively "there is no hope… you… you… demon"_

'_Demon'_ thought Gaara to himself. So even Kankurou thought this way. Gaara understood that Kankurou was mad. However Gaara could no believe Kankurou would go this far.

* * *

The red haired youth shook violently in pent up rage. It was ready to explode at the seems. "DO YOU THINK THAT I HAVEN'T SACRIFICED ANYTHING BY DOING THIS? DO YOU THINK YOU HAD IT HARD? FUCK FATHER AND HIS LEGACY, HE TRIED TO KILL ME!"

Kankurou looked a little stunned. Gaara up until now had kept his calm during the fight. This sudden burst of rage and malicious intent reminded him of the old and sadistic Gaara. The Gaara that even till today Kankurou still _feared_ on the inside.

Kankurou looked up nervously, not quite sure hot to respond to the situation because Gaara _did _have a point. Their father _had_ tried to kill him. Kankurou looked at Gaara. He didn't know what to say "I... You-"

"SHUT UP! IF YOU WERE SO PROUD OF HIM FOR TRYING TO GET RID OF THE **DEMON**, THEN YOU'RE NO DIFFERENT AND I WILL TRULY SHOW YOU THE EXTENT OF A DEMON'S FURY" shrieked Gaara.

Kankurou could feel the raw hatred in Gaara. He looked up at his brother and saw that Gaara's eyes were no longer his own, but those of the Ichibi's. He stood with his shoulders slouched and his hands hanging freely as they swayed from left to right in a slow but intimidating posture as though he was possessed like a puppet. The bronze chakra came off his body in waves and it shook the atmosphere around them violently.

"Are you ready Kankurou?" asked Gaara eerily.

"With Keechan-Bakudan I'll always be ready" replied the somewhat shaken Kankurou.

Kankurou played close attention to Gaara's movements, as he swayed left then right, then left then- he was GONE! Only an up kick of sand was seen. All of a sudden Kankurou felt a presence behind himself. As he turned his head Gaara had already appeared behind him and was about to send a crushing blow to Kankurou's head, when all of a sudden one of the giant hands from Kankurou's puppet came up through the ground and caught him in mid air. Gaara summoned sand from thin air and it took the shape of a beast with fangs. Gaara dissolved into sand out of the hands grip and the giant sand creature that Gaara conjured bit down breaking one of the giant puppet's many limbs.

Gaara appeared standing across from Kankurou once again. This time it was the Jinchuuriki's turn to be confused. The giant puppet whom he was grabbed by just a minute had disappeared. All 60 feet of the puppet was nowhere to be found. Then Gaara understood '_underground'_ he thought to himself. With that he floated into the air on a cloud of sand just as another hand was about to grab him.

"Keechan-Bakudan is now in it's most dangerous form. It is in it's trap form and it can use the elements which it has absorbed from the many fights before to attack you" sneered Kankurou.

"Damn" said Gaara more to himself. Suddenly there was a whirlpool in the sand, and from that whirlpool came giant flames. Gaara quickly maneuvered out of the way only to be caught by some more hands which dragged his body down into sand.

Kankurou looked on, it was silent. Too silent. Then BOOM! The ground under him shook. Gaara reappeared above the ground.

"How did you escape!? How have you been getting away this whole time!?" stammered a bewildered Kankurou.

"My techniques are special for a reason. They wouldn't be special if everyone knew them" said Gaara. "As far as your puppet is concerned, I may not know hot to destroy it. I mean I can destroy it, but I'd have to create such a shock that the people in Suna might be endangered. For now I will just meddle with it so that it won't be able to work without you fixing it at your puppet shop back in Suna"

"Hahaha, how do you presume to _damage_ my machine?" laughed Kankurou. "Many Shinobi better then yourself have tried"

"Your puppet absorbs elemental energy. I believe the material you used from that statue predates mankind. Therefore it only absorbs '_natural elements_'. These '_natural elements_' are elements which nature creates itself with out the help of man. These elements are ones like the basic five, earth, water, air, wind, fire, and lightning. Even mixed elements can be natural, such as ice. However some elements are man made and therefore do not apply to properties of this puppet" Gaara concluded.

Kankurou gasped. Even Kankurou barely knew about the properties of the statue that was used to create Keechan-Bakudan, yet Gaara analyzed everything and had come up with a way to overcome his giant puppet.

Gaara summoned forth more chakra. He steadied his breath for this technique which created an artificial element required a lot of concentration, especially since Gaara didn't have a bloodline. Gaara flashed through the appropriate hand seals. Then he concentrated his sand to a giant heap above his head in the sky. Sand calmly whirled around as it started to catch fire. Then Gaara's eyes went wide open and he yelled "**Gurasu-Kouu no jutsu** (Glass-Rain technique)". As if on cue the demonic sand above Gaara's head was enveloped in flames and exploded downward sending shards of sharp glass towards desert.

As the shards descended towards the earth, the puppets huge cape came out to envelop the shards into the puppet's system. As the shards were absorbed, giant cracking and grinding sounds could be heard. Keechan-Bakudan could not absorb the artificial nature of the glass. Now glass was stuck in the gears and clockwork of the giant man-made beast. This brought the behemoth to the ground as it could no longer move.

Kankurou just stood there, his jaw dropped. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Gaara's stare once again.

Gaara with his hand still on Kankurou shoulder said "it's over Kankurou, give up. You lost"

Kankurou just smiled and then something played back in Gaara's mind. It was something Kankurou has said earlier on in the battle._The best puppet master is the one that always retains the element of surprise'_.

"Holly shit!" exclaimed Gaara as the realization came too late. Kankurou turned around, grabbed Gaara's arm and pulled his red-haired brother towards himself. Then Kankurou's stomach opened up to reveal that it was in fact another puppet. Gaara's reflexes kicked him and he used a jutsu to transport himself away out of the position, but not before a small blade barley nipped his shoulder.

Gaara ended up a couple of feet away. But his body wouldn't move. "Fuck!" exclaimed the Jinchuuriki, "my b-body won't move"

"You too eh?" he heard Kankurou's voice as it seemed that the older brother was laughing.

Gaara forced himself to look up and he could see that about five yards away from him his brother lay in the same position.

"Why are you on the ground, you can finish me now. What are you waiting for?" spoke Gaara.

"Heh. Relax there, I'm completely out of chakra. We've been fighting for a couple of hours now, and all the puppet techniques I've used are all high caliber. We don't all have a second chakra source" joked Kankurou_ despite _the situation. "It'll take me about 6 hours to regain my chakra to the point where I can fight you effectively. It's funny because that is how long it'll be approximately till you heal of that poison. Usually it would be enough to kill a shit load of elephants, but I figured your healing capabilities would help you out and you'd survive. So I calculated the mix"

"Why did you calculate it so I would survive?" asked a very confused Gaara.

"So I could take you back to the hospital after I kicked the fucking shit out of you. But I guess we tied huh?" sneered Kankurou.

"No, you won that one" replied Gaara, almost as if he were annoyed.

"How do you figure?" asked Kankurou.

"You told me how your puppet worked, while I didn't tell you the method to how I kept escaping your attacks. So I had an advantage. Plus your the older brother, I think it's written somewhere that no matter what you're supposed to kick my ass when I've done something bad" said Gaara sympathetically.

"Hn. I know you're just flattering me Gaara. You held back, I know you have enough chakra to cover this whole nation in sand. Why did you hold back?" asked Kankurou

"Because I didn't want to kill you. I may have control over the demon, but the power is still pretty overwhelming" replied Gaara.

"I see, damn... Anyways, how did you keep managing to avoid me?" pondered Kankurou, "you got away so many times, and so quickly. I thought Naruto was supposed to be the Flash's son, not you".

"Well that technique was inspired by Naruto. He actually helped me develop it as well" said Gaara. "Its called the **Hisunashin no jutsu **(Flying Sand God technique). I wanted to be able to travel around quickly like Naruto. It is actually a requirement in Azura. I knew I couldn't do Naruto's Hiraishin, it was too difficult and truthfully, I would feel as if I stole that from Naruto, even though he did try to teach it to me. We settled on making another technique for me. Naruto helped me create away where I could transport myself to where ever there is sand. Even one single grain is enough to move my whole body. We figured this would be easy since my body had been used to flowing chakra through sand. So we developed the technique. Since I can spread my sand really thin into the atmosphere, or create it if needed, my range of movement is quite large. That was how I avoided all of your techniques" Gaara summed up.

"That's incredible. Holly fuck, that is awesome" Kankurou said, looking almost proud of his little brother.

"Hn." Gaara snickered, "So what's the deal, when I heal from this poison, and you get your chakra back, are we going to start round two?"

"Nah, I'm not that angry anymore. I mean... it still hurts, but it isn't so much you. It's Termari's departure that really got me riled up. You... you left for a really selfless reason. I can accept that" sighed Kankurou, appearing to be at peace with himself.

"Thank god" exclaimed Gaara, "didn't want to tell my girlfriend that my brother kicked my ass" joked the red head.

"Girlfriend eh. She hot? What base did you get to?" asked Kankurou, all signs of anger gone, now replacement by the immature and inappropriate discussions people might find among brothers.

"Hey, not cool man. I don't kiss and tell" replied Gaara getting quite comfortable lying down on the ground. Some feeling had come back to his body though he still couldn't move.

"You mean you got nothing to tell. Hehehehe. Probably don't even have a girlfriend" joked the older of the siblings.

"Yeah I do. Its Hinata Hyuga. And just because you don't have a girlfriend, doesn't mean you have to get snappy and jealous" replied Gaara smugly.

"You're right. I don't have a girlfriend" sighed Kankurou, looking hurt. Which made Gaara feel pretty guilty. Then he chuckled, "I have a wife. She is freaking gorgeous and trust me, I've run the bases quite a couple of times"

Gaara coughed, and was shocked "m-married!?"

"Yup"responded the Kankurou. "Oh an by the way Hinata Hyuga is a pretty sweet catch my friend, how did you do that?"

"I don't even know. But lets put this talk on hold for a second. Do you feel that?" asked Gaara cautiously.

"Yeah. A sandstorm, and guessing from the wind, I'd say it's only two hours away. We've only been resting for about an hour now. Fuck if we get caught in that, we'll die!" exclaimed Kankurou.

"We have to move. Look I can move a tiny but it'll take me a while to get there. I can't mold chakra to get the sand to move us, because your poison is too fucking strong and it's messing with my coils. They won't heal until the six hours is complete. However I can crawl using my chin. If I get there and give you my chakra, do you have any method which can get us out of the desert quickly? It'll take at least one hour and a half for me to get there at the rate I'll be crawling at in this sand" spoke Gaara.

"Yeah I got something that'll do the job" said Kankurou, "but are you sure you can make it? Using just your chin is really hard"

"Didn't stop Naruto from crawling over to me after our fight" answered Gaara in the revelation of Naruto, once again inspired him to be strong for the people he loved. He had to be strong to save himself and his brother. He had to be strong to help his friends in the upcoming war. He had to stay strong to help Naruto finally be happy with Sakura, because Naruto had done so much for him. Finally Gaara had to stay strong for Hinata, just so he could she her breathtaking face, and those beautiful pearly eyes. So he could smell her lavender hair and run his hands across her porcelain skin.

* * *

_Flashback half a month ago_

_Gaara had begun getting used to the idea of having a girlfriend. He liked it very much. He had even met her father and he approved of him. Not that Hinata would care anyways, but the fact that her father trusted him with her daughter. It made Gaara feel relieved and even if this was a stretch, it made Gaara feel as if though he could actually have a real father for the first time in his life._

_That day Gaara and Hinata were training at Team 10's training grounds. Hinata was a very powerful Kunoichi, and_ _Gaara loved to train with her. He loved to help her grow stronger and more confident. So there they were Gaara hurling sand at Hinata, while Hinata dipped and dodged. She was graceful and she could spin from her stance into a twirling dodge. She was a breathtaking sight for Gaara. He lost himself little by little, even as he was attacking her. _

_All of a sudden he felt his chakra points go out in his back. He fell into the arms of Hinata who, ironically was holding him up bridal style. She didn't have Sakura's super strength, but she was a Kunoichi, not just a Kunoichi, but a Hyuga, and Hyugas were strong nonetheless. _

_Hinata plopped herself on the ground with Gaara still in her arms. Gaara struggled to move, but he couldn't, the chakra points in his spine were temporarily disabled. Now Gaara could've forced his second chakra source to help him out, but he really didn't want to ruin the moment for Hinata. "Ah my lovely bride" she giggled towards the now cherry red, and extremely embarrassed, former Kazekage. _

"_Usually I wait till I've gone out with a person for at least a year before I marry them" joked Gaara, playing along with Hinata. "However, you just swept me off my feet there, so I can make an exception for you"_

_With that Hinata leaned down and kissed Gaara. It was a playful and teasing kiss. It wasn't desperate and needy, it was simply a kiss that said 'I'm glad you're here, and I want you to stay here... with me'._

_Switching positions so that Hinata was now in Gaara's arms, they continued kissing one another till the sun set over the training grounds, and the moon looked down upon two people which the sun held no claim over. _

_For Hinata and Gaara were both children which bathed in moonlight. They were quiet, and reserved. They held patience like the moon did ever day, waiting till the sun would set so it could take up the sky and hush the world. So that voices of love where not as loud, yet just as powerful. Where a whisper held just as much volume and life as the loudest roar._

_With that in mind Gaara quietly whispered in between kisses "I love you Hinata-chan. You're the knight in shinning armor that saved me from loneliness. I'll be forever grateful and in love with you"._

"_I love you too, but just don't talk about loneliness anymore. That word holds not more meaning when you and I are together" Hinata said as she finished the conversation for the rest of the night with a kiss._

_The only sounds the to would make later on that night, in Gaara's apartment, were the sounds of two people in love expressing themselves through their bodies rather then their words. _

_

* * *

_Gaara had found his resolve and he pushed with everything to get to Kankurou. After what seemed to be forever, he arrived at his intended destination. With a final tug of his now bleeding chin he pulled himself up near his older brother and rested beside him. Slowly he reached his hand out to touch his brother, in the same way Zabuza once reached out to touch Haku before he died. However Gaara didn't plan on dieing. Gaara focused his energy into his brother and with a gaps Kankurou shot up. 

Quickly Kankurou pulled out one his scrolls, and summoned an rather large armadillo-type puppet which opened up it's shield/shell to expose a small sitting area big enough for two people.

Well at least that's what Kankurou said before he shoved both himself and his brother into the seat, rather uncomfortably, and pumped chakra into the puppet to get it to move into high gear because the sand storm had appeared and it was very close to the two brothers. The shield came down and the puppet started spinning in the direction of Suna at a very fast rate. The brothers were tossed and turned in every direction, and once they arrived within the gates of the city the puppet ejected them in a somewhat comical manner and they both landed on the ground and proceeded to vomit quite violently.

After which they were taken to the hospital.

* * *

Now Gaara lay on a bed waiting for Sakura's injection of anti bacterium. She really was quite amazing at her line of work.

"You guys are really stupid you know that?" spoke a rather stressed out and angry Sakura. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"What?" said Kankurou in a joking tone, trying to lighten the mood, "we were only have a little brotherly fun. You know a bit of wrestling here, some noogies over there, once in a while an S+ Rank jutsu. No harm no foul right?"

Sakura's eye twitched, "n-no harm... no foul?" stuttered the enraged pink-haired beauty.

Naruto sight while shook his head, '_that was the worst thing he could've said_' thought the blond Jinchuuriki.

"I have to write up the compound I used to heal Gaara. Go over the chemical base I used so that your supplies aren't contaminated, write up a mission report as to why the Kazekage almost fought to the death with a leaf nin who is under Konoha's amnesty right now. I'LL SHOW YOU NO HARM NO FOUL!" screamed an enraged anime-style Sakura as she had to be dragged away by Naruto before she could successfully remove Kankurou's head from his body.

"She's scary" mouthed Kankurou to Gaara.

"You don't even know" mouthed Gaara back.

"HEY ASSHOLE I CAN READ LIPS SHANNARO!" screamed Sakura from the corner of the room as Naruto continued to struggle with holding her back.

The two brothers froze, being intensely scared of the fact that Sakura had still been able to decipher what they had been saying.

Then Gaara calmed down noting that two women entered the room. One was Hinata and the other was a beautiful, orange-haired woman with a developed body and a sympathetic face. Her hair went down to her mid back. Her eyes were dark with a tint of gray (AN: character inspired by Orohime from Bleach).

The orange haired woman rushed to Kankurou's side and enveloped him in a fierce hug. She almost had tears in her eyes "Kankurou-kun, you had me so worried when you didn't come back after telling me there were dangerous people at our gates. How many times have you risked yourself for this village. Why don't you ever let some of the other Jounins do the jobs? You're always at the front lines"

"I'm sorry Sora-chan. You know that Suna doesn't have that many Jounins so I have to protect everyone who's precious to me" replied the Kazekage.

Sora teared up "I love you so much, I didn't want to think the worst, but you were gone for a really long time, and you usually don't take very long when you're defending against invaders and I... I..."

"Shhhhh" whispered Kankurou softly into her hair. "I wasn't fighting any old invaders this time. I was up against someone much stronger, so it's to be expected that I took a bit longer then necessary"

Gaara just looked with astonish mount at his older brother. The red head thought to himself '_When has Kankurou ever been so... affectionate... Wait he's always been affectionate, I was just too clouded in insanity to notice while I was younger_'. This lead Gaara to remember all the times his brother had looked out for their family. Temari was the oldest, yet Kankurou was the oldest male so he made sure that he looked out for everyone. When Temari had girl problems at the time she was a teenager, Kankurou looked out for her in her times of need and depression. Whenever Gaara was confused at one point in his term as Kazekage, Kankurou would always be there with the right decision. '_Now I can see why he's such a great Kazekage_' thought Gaara.

Gaara's thoughts where then interrupted upon hearing Kankurou mention his name.

"This is Gaara, Sora. He's my younger brother, and the reason I was a bit later then I expected" said Kankurou gleefully, "Gaara-san? Godaime Kazekage-sama? I've heard so much about you. Kankurou-kun speaks so highly of you. It's an honor to finally meet you"

'_Kankurou spoke highly of me, I thought he hated me. Oh god I feel horrible'_ thought Gaara, however he answered "The honor's all mine Sora-san. I've heard about you as well. You're even more beautiful then Kankurou mentioned"

Sora blushed. As the rest introduced each other. Gaara however looked at Hinata and she did not look pleased. He knew it wasn't because he had complimented Sora about her looks.

* * *

Later on that night in their room Gaara and Hinata were lying down in bed. The two hadn't talked as Gaara was nervous to mention something to the stressed Hyuga.

The tension was killing him so he broke it "Are you ok? You seem pretty dissapointed-"

"You think!?" replied Hinata in a very out of character and sarcastic way.

"Have I disappointed you in any way-" again Gaara was interrupted by Hinata.

"You could've been killed Gaara. Why did you fight him? Do you know how hard it would've been on me if anything were to happen to you?" the said Hyuga whispered, though her whispers may have been soft, her eyes showed that she was really disappointed and that she had been worried about Gaara.

"I'm sorry but I had to do it ok?" said Gaara, no satisfied with his own answer.

"Why? Why did you have to do it? To get closure for being lonely, to get him to acknowledge the fact that what you did was harder then what he had to do? You left, and instead of apologizing and explaining, you fought to show him that you were better because you control a demon and he couldn't" replied Hinata passionately.

"Hey!" Gaara spoke a little louder then he intended to, but continued nonetheless, "You don't understand what if feels like when you sacrifice your soul to protect people, and then you are shunned for it. You have no idea, so stop trying to act all righteous just because you think you're better because you never needed acknowledgment" said Gaara before he could stop himself.

"Ok, because I never need acknowledgment right? I'm just that overlooked little Hyuga girl who fanned over the only Jinchuuriki in Konoha and got everything she wanted right. So I couldn't possibly now how you feel" was all Hinata said, clearly displeased as she turned around to go to sleep.

"Ok, ok, ok, I'm sorry. I didn't think about what I was saying. I know you had a hard time during your younger years Hinata. But... this thing... it killed my mother. Kankurou at one point accused me of being that same thing, telling me that it was my fault all those people died, that my mother's blood was on my hands. I know I wasn't right, but neither was he, and it hurt... a lot" finished Gaara.

Hinata turned around and looked him in the eyes, she wasn't mad anymore, but understanding. She always had that quality, she didn't get angry over trivial things when it wasn't worth the pain it would cause her or those she cared about.

"I know Gaara, I know. I was just worried, you see, because I want you here with me. I want you to be safe" said the Hyuga.

"There's no where I'd rather be" was the only response he gave her, and the only response she needed. As they slept soundly together through the night.

* * *

AN: And wow that took a while. Sorry about this chapter guys. I promise next one will have more NaruSaku in it. I just didn't want to rush some in at the end because it would ruin it. Sorry for the long wait, but I managed to update. I hope you like the outcome of the fight. I also hope the fight had enough action. In regards to Sakura's pregnancy I'll say it now, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT. There are too many other things I want to get out of the way before I start with that. So yeah. I don't know if i can update soon but i will try. I hope you liked this chapter, next one i promise will have NaruSaku. I hope some ppl enjoyed the work i put in on the Gaara x Hinata stuff, i'm trying to make it more then just a secondhand pairing to be tossed aside somply so that Naruto and Sakura can get jiggy with it lol. Till my next update SAYONARA! 


	19. Chapter 19Author's note

Dear fans of Where Do I Belong?, this story has been discontinued because my AzureBalmonk account is not working. I however am re-writing it under the title 'Echo of a Ghost'. It will have a new plot, but the same characters and I believe it will be of much higher quality. My writing has also significantly improved so I believe you will enjoy the new fic more.

For those who like the story. I'm very, very sorry. I'll try to make up for it on my new fic.

It is under the author AzureEmpire (my new account).

Please read the first chapter and leave reviews, I think you'll like it more.

Thank you very much for review and supporting this story, I'm truly appreciative of all of you.


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